LIBRARY  OF  THE  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


PRINCETON,  N.  J. 


Division 


Section. 


"SOI 


«  .^.  :*->^'.r'v'."^     «  ^  '^-^  -.  ■.■>^J" 


I'l'^' 


LIFE  AND  SERMONS^^- 

OF  \y^  MAi.£.o  & 

Elder  James  ^Quinter, 


LATE     EDITOR    OF 


GOSPEL    MESSENGER,    PRESIDENT    OF    BRETHREN'S 

NORMAL  COLLEGE,  AND  AUTHOR  OF 

"TRINE  IMMERSION." 


BY  HIS  DAUGHTER, 


MARY  N.  'QUINTER. 


MT.  MORRIS,  ILL.  : 
BRETHREN'S  PUBLISHING  CO. 


Copyrighted,  1891, 

By  Ma»y  N.   Quinter, 

Huntingdon,  Pa. 


DONOHUE  &  HENNEBERRY, 

PRINTERS   AND    BINDERS, 

CHICAGO. 


TO   THE   BLESSED   MEMORY 

OF    HIM 

WHOSE    LIFE    WAS    A    CONSTANT    BENEDICTION 

AND    WHO    HAS    LEFT   AS 

A   SACKED   LEGACY 

AN    INSPIRATION   TO    A    HIGHER, 

HOLIER    LIFE, 

THIS    WORK    IS   AFFECTIONATELY 

INSCRIBED 

AS   THE     LOVING    TRIBUTE     OF     A      DAUGHTER 

TO    HER    father's    LIFE. 


PREFACE. 

The  kind  indulgence  of  the  reader  is  asked  for  the  work 
herewith  presented.  The  writer  is  a  novice  in  work  of  this 
kind,  and  has  undertaken  it  with  great  reluctance,  and  only 
at  the  earnest  solicitation  of  the  friends  who  so  much 
desired  that  the  storj'-  of  this  "  Life  "  might  be  preserved  to 
the  church  and  the  people  whose  welfare  was  so  dear  to 
his  heart.  "We  have  hesitated,  because  we  felt  entirely 
unable  to  perform  the  work  as  it  should  be  done,  and  because 
much  that  we  might  desire  to  say  might  be  criticised  as 
too  eulogistic.  That  some  little  good  may  be  accomplished 
is  our  only  motive.  It  is  scarcely  expected  that  the  work 
will  find  many  readers  outside  of  those  in  some  way 
acquainted  and  in  sympathy  with  the  life  portrayed.  It 
is  believed  that  such  will  accept  it  simply  as  a  loving 
attempt  to  truthfully  and  faithfully  delineate  the  scenes 
and  incidents  in  a  life  filled  with  arduous  toil  in  varied 
fields  of  Christian  labor. 

No  diary  or  journal  recorded  the  facts  of  his  life,  and 
death  came  to  him  so  suddenly,  that,  though  it  did  not  find 
him  unprepared,  yet  there  had  been  so  little  decline  in  his 
powers  that  no  specific  preparation  for  a  work  of  this  kind 
had  been  made.  Had  it  been  otherwise,  though  he  would 
scarcely  have  made  any  preparation  himself,  yet  his  friends 
might  have  gathered  from  his  lips  a  more  complete  account 
of  his  life. 

From  his  published  work,  and  from  the  memory  of  those 
who  knew  him  best,  have  been  drawn  the  facts  and  incidents 
here  imperfectly  sketched.  Whenever  it  has  been  possible 
his  own  account  of  the  scenes  and  incidents  of  his  life  has  been 

7 


8  PKEFACE. 

used.     Much  worthy  of  record  has  no  doubt  passed  beyond 
recall,  but  of  this  life  it  can  be  truthfully  said, 

"  To  live  in  hearts  we  leave  behind  is  not  to  die." 
His  truest  life  is  written  in  the  hearts  of  those  who  have 
been  strengthened  and  quickened  anew  to  spiritual  life  and 
to  higher  desires  for  holiness  by  contact  with  his  consecrated 
life. 

To  all  who  have  in  any  way  contributed  to  the  inter- 
est of  the  work  and  without  whose  aid  and  assistance  it 
could  not  have  been  published,  the  warmest  thanks  and 
deepest  gratitude  are  hereby  tendered.  Especially  are 
thanks  due  to  Brother  H.  B.  Brumbaugh,  whose  interest 
and  encouragement  so  kindly  manifested  have  proved  so 
helpful. 

What  has  been  written  of  his  life  may  seem  to  his  friends 
to  be  but  a  shadowy  outline  through  which  they  may  catch 
glimpses  of  the  man  they  knew.  But  if  the  glimpses  of  so 
pure  a  life  may  prove  an  encouragement  and  help  to  any 
one,  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  written  shall  have  been 
accomplished. 

In  the  sermons  those  who  knew  and  loved  him  and 
whose  hearts  have  been  "  touched  for  good  and  for  God  " 
by  him,  may  again  come  into  close  contact  with  a  heart 
warm  with  the  love  of  Christ  and  zeal  for  His  cause.  They 
are  the  true  expression  of  the  life  of  the  man.  May  they 
prove  messages  of  peace  and  comfort  to  many  hearts. 

That  our  Father  in  Heaven  may  graciously  bless  the 
work;  that  His  children  who  read  it  may  be  strengthened 
anew  in  their  spiritual  life  and  built  up  in  their  most  holy 
faith ;  that  some  one,  yet  a  stranger  to  the  Master's  love^ 
may  be  led  to  the  acceptance  of  His  truth  by  a  word  or  sen. 
tence  here  read  is  the  earnest  desire  and  sincere  prayer  of 
the  author  and  compiler.  H.  N.  Q. 

Huntingdon,  Pa.,  February,  1891, 


INTRODUCTION. 

The  book  herewith  presented  to  the  Brotherhood  and 
the  public  is  one  of  no  ordinary  character,  as  we  have  none 
like  it  in  the  literature  of  the  Brethren  Church.  But  it  will 
be  none  the  less  appreciated  on  this  account,  as  for  several 
years  there  has  been  a  continued  and  pressing  demand  for 
its  appearance.  At  the  Annual  Meeting  held  at  Harrison- 
burg, Ya.,  in  the  year  1889,  we  presented  the  propriety  of 
its  publication  before  the  Standing  Committee  of  that  Meet- 
ino-,  and  it  was  voted  a  unanimous  approval.  Since  then  a 
laro-e  number  of  inquiries  have  been  received,  and  the 
demand  for  its  publication  has  become  so  urgent  that  his 
daughter,  the  author  and  compiler,  finally  decided  to  under- 
take the  work,  which  she  has  now  completed  in  a  very  satis- 
factory manner. 

On  account  of  our  intimate  acquaintance  with  him  for 
the  last  twelve  years  of  his  eventful  life,  we  have  been 
solicited  to  write  this  Introduction.  We  do  it  with  a  consid- 
erable degree  of  reluctance,  knowing  our  inability  to  do  it  as 
we  feel  it  should  be  done.  And  yet  it  affords  us  great  pleas- 
ure to  be  able  to  introduce  to  the  Church  and  to  the  public 
the  author  of  a  ministry  that  has  proved  so  great  a  bless- 
ing; to  the  world. 

In  trying  to  bear  an  humble  testimony  to  a  life  that  was 
so  noble,  so  grand  and  yet  so  gentle  and  unpretending,  we 
are  made  to  feel  as  we  felt  when  standing  in  the  presence  of 
the  Niagara  Falls,  amidst  the  roar  and  plunging  of  the  dash- 
ing water,  the  uprising  clouds  of  mist  and  the  circling  rain- 
bows that  spanned  the  awe-inspiring  scene. 

There  are  times  when  we  have  feelings  which  are  beyond 
our  power  of  expression;  ideals  that  we  can  neither  paint  nor 

9 


10  INTKODUCTION. 

describe.  Such  an  one  we  have  before  us  now,  and  most 
gladly  would  we  set  it  before  you,  could  we  do  so.  A  life- 
long servant  of  Jesus,  a  Bible  student,  a  defender  of  the 
Church  in  her  practices  and  doctrines,  and  in  character  God's 
nobleman  ;  yet,  in  practical  experience,  as  humble  as  a  lov- 
ing child. 

Our  acquaintance  with  Elder  Quinter,  prior  to  his  removal 
to  Huntingdon,  was  from  his  reputation  rather  than  from 
personal  knowledge,  outside  of  that  which  we  had  learned 
from  his  writings  and  editorial  labors.  His  reputation  as  a 
successful  minister  and  his  known  sympathy  with  the  edu- 
cational movements  of  the  Church  led  to  the  consolidation 
of  the  two  weekly  church  papers  then  being  published  at 
Myersdale,  Pa.,  and  at  this  place.  And  on  his  removal  here, 
in  the  fall  of  1876,  he  at  once  became  identified  with  us  in 
both  Church  and  School.  From  this  time  on  to  the  close  of  his 
life  his  relations  with  us  as  a  church  were  most  pleasant,  and 
his  fatherly  counsels  and  ministerial  labors  greatly  appre- 
ciated by  all. 

He  was  a  man  who  commanded  the  respect  and  esteem 
of  all,  and  no  one  could  associate  with  him  without  feeling 
that  their  lives  were  made  better  by  coming  in  contact  with 
his  life,  and  hundreds,  in  giving  him  the  parting  hand,  were 
made  to  thank  God  that  such  a  man  as  Elder  Quinter  lived. 
But  while  he  was  great  and  good  in  his  home  associations, 
as  a  neighbor  and  citizen,  and  in  his  relations  to  the  College 
as  its  president,  he  was  especially  great  in  the  pulpit  and  in 
his  ministry.  His  sermons  were  accompanied  with  an  inspi- 
ration that  could  be  felt  only  by  hearing  them.  And,  often, 
as  we  sat  weeping  under  his  ministrations,  we  were  made 
sad  to  feel  that  only  so  few  could  enjoy  that  which  afforded 
us  so  much  joy  and  peace.  But  we  are  now  made  to 
rejoice  in  the  thought  that,  though  the  tongue  and  the  lips 
that  voiced  forth  with  so  much  eloquence  and  zeal  the  riches 


INTKODUCTION.  11 

of  the  Gospel  of  Christ  have  been  silenced  in  death,  the 
messages  that  were  thus  given  we  still  have,  and  now  send 
them  forth  in  this  volume  to  spiritually  energize  and  glad- 
den the  hearts  of  thousands  of  others  who,  though  they  can 
not  hear  him  speak,  can  receive  his  words  as  they  flowed 
from  lips  inspired  and  sanctified  by  the  Holy  Ghost. 

The  object  in  publishing  this  volume  is  three-fold. 
First,  to  place  before  the  church  and  the  public  a  short 
sketch  of  the  life  of  a  man  who  has  made  the  world 
better  by  his  living  in  it.  It  is  said  that  bad  men  are 
dead  while  they  live,  but  good  men  live  after  they  die. 
This  may  be  truthfully  said  of  Elder  Quinter.  Though 
be  is  dead  yet  he  liveth  and  will  continue  to  live  until  all  the 
golden  sheaves  are  gathered. 

Second.  That  a  part  of  his  sermons  that  were  prepared 
with  so  much  care  and  hard  study,  and  at  the  dictation  of 
the  Spirit,  may  be  preserved  for  the  benefit  and  instruction 
of  the  ministry.  They  are  examples  of  sermonizing  worthy 
of  careful  study  by  our  ministers,  as  from  them  they  can  not 
fail  to  get  form  and  matter  that  will  greatly  aid  in  the  prep- 
aration of  sermons. 

And  a  third  object  in  publishing  this  book  is  that  it  may 
prove  a  home  ministry  in  thousands  of  Christian  families,  at 
times  when  no  other  opportunity  can  be  had,  to  have  the 
Gospel  preached. 

For  the  infirm,  the  aged,  and  the  isolated  ones,  this  book 
may  prove  a  great  comfort.  When  it  is  made  necessary  for 
the  family,  or  part  of  it,  to  remain  at  home  on  Sunday,  or 
confined  in  the  sick-chamber,  have  one  of  these  sermons  read 
and  it  will  prove  a  good  substitute  for  the  regular  preach- 
ing services.  It  may  prove  a  household  service  as  did  the 
singing  and  praying  of  Paul  and  Silas  in  the  prison.  In  the 
book  will  be  found  sermons  especially  adapted  to  the  family, 
the  afiiicted  and  to  the  isolated  ones.     And  we  are  sure  that 


12  INTRODUCTION. 

there  are  hundreds  of  homes  in  which  this  ministry  will  be 
gladly  welcomed  and  appreciated.  And  unto  every  Christian 
home  it  will  prove  a  power  for  good. 

In  the  brief  biography  will  be  found  the  history  of  a 
life  that  has  made  the  world  better — one  that  ought 
to  give  zeal,  earnestness  and  inspiration  to  the  young; 
to  church  workers,  determination  and  perseverance  in  the 
good  cause,  and  to  the  aged  a  solid  rock  which  will  make 
sure  the  faltering  step  until  the  end  comes. 

The  sermons  will  be  adapted  to  every  loving  child  of 
Jesus,  and  to  the  sinner  as  well.  In  them  will  be  found  the 
Bread  of  Heaven,  the  Holy  Manna,  the  unsearchable  riches 
of  Christ.  My  prayer  is  that  this  volume,  freighted,  as  it  is, 
with  messages  of  peace  and  salvation  from  a  loving  heart, 
may,  everywhere,  find  an  open  door.  Take  it  into  your 
homes  and,  like  the  Ark  in  the  house  of  Obed  £dom,  it  will 
prove  a  blessing  to  the  household. 

Every  book,  like  every  person,  goes  forth  into  the  world 
on  a  special  mission.     So  goes  forth  this  unpretentious  vol- 
ume with  its  special  aim  which  we,  in   part,  at  least,  have 
attempted  to  set  forth  in  this  brief  Introduction. 

It  gives  the  writer  pleasure  to  join  in  offering  to  the 
Brotherhood,  and  to  the  Christian  world,  a  work  which  is 
intended  to  be  helpful  to  others,  in  scattering  the  seeds  of 
the  Grospel  of  the  Son  of  God  to  all  nations.  Go  forth  on 
thy  mission  of  love,  attended  with  the  prayers  of  all  Vho 
love  Jesus,  and  may  "  this  life  "  and  "  these  words  "  prove  a 
blessing  to  generations  yet  unborn. 

H.  B.  Brumbaugh. 

Huntingdon,  Pa.,  February,  1891. 


:p.iL.ieT  I- 


A  SKETCH  OF  THE  LIFE 


OF 


ELDER  JAMES  QUINTER, 


TOGETHER     WITH 


MEMORIAL  SKETCHES. 


A  SKETCH  OF  THE  LIFE 

OF 

ELDER  JAMES  QUINTER. 


"James,  son  of  John  and  Mary  Quinter,  born  February 
1,  A.  D.  1816." 

This  record  from  the  old  family  Bible  tells  of  the  beg^in- 
ning  of  a  life  which,  measured  by  its  written  chronicles,  may 
be  briefly  told.  Of  those  associated  Avith  him  in  his  boy- 
hood and  early  manhood,  few,  if  any,  are  left  to  recall  the 
incidents  of  those  years.  A  few  reminiscences  scattered 
through  his  editorials  or  his  notes  of  travel  are  all  that 
remain  to  guide  us  in  sketching  his  life's  story. 

His  mother  was  a  native  of  New  Jersey.  Her  maiden 
name  was  Mary  Smith.  His  father  was  a  native  of  Phila- 
delphia. In  this  city  they  made  their  first  home.  Here 
two  of  their  children  were  born — Ann  Eliza,  July  4,  1809, 
and  James,  in  1816.  The  family  were  poor,  dependent  on 
the  father's  daily  labor  for  their  support.  In  1824  they 
removed  to  Phoenixville,  a  manufacturing  town  on  the 
Schuylkill ,  about  twenty-five  miles  from  Philadelphia. 
The  father  found  work  at  the  iron  mills.  His  work  con- 
sisted in  hauling  the  finished  nails  and  iron  to  Philadelphia. 
There  was  at  this  time  no  railroad  and  no  bridge  across  the 
river.  The  boy  James,  in  the  intervals  between  the  short 
school  terms,  also  was  employed;  he  drove  a  donkey  attached 
to  a  cart  between  the  long  rows  of  machinery,  gathering  the 
work  as  it  was  finished. 

In  1829  the  father  died,  the  result  of  his  exposure  during 
his  trips  to  and  from  the  city.  His  little  family — a  wife, 
son,  and  two  daughters — were  now  left  with  little  means 

15 


16  A   SKETCH    OF   THE   LIFE    OF 

for  support.  Though  but  a  boy  of  thirteen,  the  duty  of 
helping  to  care  for  his  mother  and  sisters  now  rested  upon 
this  son. 

The  educational  advantages  of  the  time  were  rare,  par- 
ticularly for  the  poor.  The  opportunities,  though  small, 
were  improved,  and  the  children  were  sent  to  school  when- 
ever it  was  possible.  The  schools  of  those  times  are  in 
marked  contrast  with  those  of  the  present.  Yet  with  the 
lessons  of  the  school  book  were  inculcated  lessons  of  truth, 
purity  and  nobility.  The  Bible  was  in  daily  use  in  many  of 
the  schools  and  the  influence  of  its  lessons  is  ever  toward 
that  which  is  highest.  The  reading  books  of  the  time  con- 
tained selections  from  the  best  writings  of  the  standard 
authors.  In  the  sketches  of  biography  and  history,  in  essays 
and  poems,  the  pupils  came  into  constant  contact  with  the 
pure,  the  noble,  and  the  good.  In  the  old  "  English  Reader" 
and  its  "  Sequel "  may  be  found  choice  selections  from 
Milton,  Addison,  Young,  Gray,  Montgomery,  Dr.  Johnson, 
Goldsmith,  Philip  Doddridge,  Dr.  Hugh  Blair,  the  Scotch 
divine,  and  many  others.  Could  such  selections  as  "  The 
Importance  of  a  Good  Education,"  "  Happiness  Founded 
in  Rectitude  of  Conduct,"  "Virtue,  Man's  Highest  Influence," 
"The  Value  of  Religious  Retirement,"  "The  Man  of  Integ- 
rity," and  others  of  a  similar  character,  have  else  than  a  salu- 
tary influence  ?  The  love  of  books  and  the  desire  for  an 
education  were  fostered,  if  not  awakened,  by  such  lessons. 
This  fact  is  mentioned  as  no  doubt  it  had  an  important 
influence  in  forming  and  developing  those  noble  purposes 
and  high  ideals  which  ever  characterized  the  subject  of  this 
sketch. 

In  his  boyhood  he  manifested  a  desire  and  a  determi- 
nation to  obtain  an  education.  His  mother  shared  his  desire 
and  did  all  she  could  to  help  him.     She  obtained  a  situation 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTER.  17 

for  him  in  the  family  of  Philip  Rosenberger,  at  the  Perkio- 
men  Stone  Bridge,  near  to  which  Freeland  College  —  now 
Ursinus —  was  located. 

After  leaving  school,  he  first  obtained  a  situation  in  the 
store  of  Brother  Isaac  Price,  of  Corner  Stores,  near  Phoenix- 
ville.  Brother  Price  said :  "  I  soon  found  he  was  too  reserved 
to  make  a  good  storekeeper  and  asked  Brother  Fitzwater  to 
take  him  on  the  farm."  The  request  was  granted  and  we 
next  find  him  in  the  family  of  Brother  Abel  Fitzwater.  To 
the  influence  of  this  kind  Christian  family  he  attributed  his 
early  conversion  and  they  were  ever  kindly  and  gratefully 
remembered. 

In  the  surrounding  community  were  the  homes  of  breth- 
ren John  Umstad,  George  Price,  Samuel  Supplee ;  and. 
although  not  in  the  immediate  neighborhood,  the  home  of 
Brother  Isaac  Price  was  not  far  away.  These  brethren,  with 
Brother  Fitzwater,  were  among  those  who  came  into  the 
Church  during  a  religious  revival  in  the  community  in  1831. 
As  there  was  no  Church  of  the  Brethren  in  the  neighborhood, 
they  were  baptized  in  the  Coventry  Church,  near  Pottstown, 
Through  the  efforts  of  these  brethren  meetings  for  public 
worship  were  held  in  the  school-houses,  and  prayer  meet- 
ings were  held  at  their  homes,  During  a  meeting  held  in 
the  old  Green  Tree  school-house,  he  was  convicted  and 
his  mind  aroused  upon  the  subject  of  his  salvation.  It 
engaged  his  thoughts  deeply  for  a  time,  and  one  day  as 
•he  was  working  at  the  barn  he  suddenly  stopped,  exclaim- 
ing, "Pve  got— Pve  got  it,"  and  ran  to  the  house.  "  Pve 
got  it— peace  with  God  !"  He  was  baptized  in  the  Coventry 
Church.     He  was  at  this  time  in  his  seventeenth  year. 

Later,  through  the  efforts  of  the  brethren,  a  little  church 
was  organized  in  the  village  of  Lumberville,  now  Port  Provi- 
dence. The  first  love-feast  was  held  in  Brother  Umstad's 
barn.    By  the  blessing  of  God  and  the  zeal  of  the  members  the 


18  A    SKETCH    OF    THE    LIFE    OF 

little  church  grew  and  increased  in  numbers  and  power.  It 
was  in  this  church  that  prayer  meetings  and  protracted 
meetings  were  first  held  among  the  brethren.  In  an  edito- 
rial, written  in  February,  1888,  in  which  he  gives  an  account 
of  a  visit  to  the  Green  Tree  church,  he  refers  to  a  number 
of  incidents  connected  with  the  early  history  of  the  church. 
In  referring  to  the  prayer  meetings,  he  says :  ''  Our  prayer 
meetings  that  we  held  in  the  beginning  of  the  church  here 
afforded  us  verj'-  good  opportunities  for  exercising  our  gifts. 
While  those  meetings  were  excellent  promoters  of  our 
spiritual  life,  they  were  good  schools  for  our  improvement 
in  many  ways.  In  these  meetings  we  exercised  somewhat 
freely  as  did  the  brethren  and  sisters  generally." 

From  the  beginning  of  his  Christian  experience  his  life 
was  characterized  by  deep  piety.  His  exemplary  character, 
his  earnestness  and  his  sincerity  won  for  him  the  love  and 
cogfidence  of  all  that  knew  him. 

Though  he  had  been  obliged  to  leave  school  he  had  not 
given  up  study.  His  determination  to  obtain  an  education 
strengthened  with  his  years.  By  his  diligence  and  earnest- 
ness in  improving  his  few  opportunities  he  accomplished 
much  in  the  way  of  self-improvement. 

His  friends,  noting  his  zeal  and  his  manifest  disposition 
to  learn,  were  interested  in  him,  and  by  their  assistance  he 
was  enabled  to  prepare  himself  for  teaching.  He  attended 
for  a  time  a  private  boarding-school  at  West  Bradford, 
Chester  count}''.  Pa.  The  school  was  kept  by  Jonathan 
Gause,  a  Friend. 

He  began  teaching  in  Limerick  township,  Montgomery 
county,  Pa.,  in  what  was  called  Hobson's  school-house, 
situated  about  one  mile  from  Royer's  Ford.  While  teaching 
here  he  found  a  pleasant  home  in  the  family  of  Francis 
Hobson. 

About  the  time  the  first  love-feast  of  the  Lumberville 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTKR.  19 

church  was  held  the  project  of  building  a  union  meeting- 
house in  Lumberville  was  started.  In  a  short  time  a  two- 
story  structure  was  erected;  the  lower  story  was  furnished 
for  church  services,  the  second  as  a  school-room. 

In  the  spring  of  1834  he  came  to  Lumberville  and  began 
teaching  in  this  room.  He  continued  to  teach  here  for  seven 
years,  from  1834  to  1841.  To  his  work  in  the  school-room 
he  devoted  all  his  energies,  and  not  only  labored  to  impress 
upon  the  minds  of  his  pupils  the  temporal  truths  of  their 
daily  lessons,  but  also  by  precept  and  example  endeavored  to 
lead  them  to  the  higher  truths  of  the  spiritual  life. 

While  teaching  in  Lumberville  he  made  his  home  for  a 
time  in  Brother  Fitzwater's  famil3%  and  in  the  family  of 
Joseph  Pennypacker.  Later  he  moved  his  mother  and  sis- 
ters to  the  village.  His  elder  sister,  Ann,  had  married,  and 
had  been  left  with  three  little  boys.  She  came  with  her 
children  to  find  again  a  home  with  her  mother,  brother  and 
sister.  She  found  love  and  sympathy  among  the  home 
hearts,  and  remained  with  them  till  her  death,  in  October, 
1842. 

Shortly  after  his  conversion  he  was  impressed  with  a  call 
to  follow  his  Master  in  the  work  of  the  ministry.  His  con- 
viction of  this  duty  grew  stronger,  yet  in  this,  as  in  all 
things  else,  he  was  willing  to  submit  the  time  to  the  Lord's 
will.  In  1838,  in  a  council  meeting,  held  at  the  home  of 
Brother  George  Price,  he  was  called  by  the  Church  to  the 
ministry.  The  following  letter,  written  to  Sister  Sarah  Price, 
is  interesting  as  referring  to  the  scenes  and  incidents  of 
his  early  life : 

Columbiana,  O.,  March  31,  1865. 

Dear  Sister  Sarah:  I  am  happy  to  know  there  are 
those  among  my  Christian  friends  who  still  retain  the  friend- 
ship and  kind  feelings  toward  me  that  were  formed  many 
years  ago.     And  still  happier  am  I  to  believe  that  the  Chris- 


20  A   SKETCH    OF   THE    LIFE   OP 

tian  friendships  and  acquaintances  formed  hei*e  on  earth  will 
continue  to  exist,  and  be  a  source  of  enjoyment  to  us  in 
another  and  higher  state  of  being ;  and  that  friends  separated 
here  will  rejoin  one  another  there,  where  our  friendship 
and  union  will  be  perfected.  I  assure  you,  dear  sister,  I 
reciprocate  the  kind  regard"  you  have  manifested  to  me,  and 
I  deeply  sympathize  with  you  in  your  bereavement,  and  in 
all  your  afflictions,  though  I  may  seem  to  have  been  some- 
what unmindful  of  you  by  not  writing  to  you  before  this. 
I  will  not  now  occupy  time  or  space  in  making  explanations 
as  an  apology  for  my  delay.  I  am  sure  if  you  knew  my 
engagements  and  how  often  I  have  thought  of  you,  with 
other  dear  friends  who  are  engraven  so  deeply  upon  my 
heart  that  I  can  not  forget  them,  your  censure  would  not  be 
severe. 

Your  letter,  dear  sister,  brought  many  things  connected 
with  the  childhood  of  my  Christian  life  to  mind.  It  is  a 
peculiarity  of  the  human  mind  to  retain  in  the  memory  with 
remarkable  freshness  those  occurrences  which  happened  in 
childhood.  These  are  remembered  Avhile  things  which 
occurred  later  in  life  are  forgotten.  It  is  very  much  so  in 
being  born  again,  or  in  our  new  life.  How  vividly  do  many 
things  appear,  which  are  connected  with  their  conversion  or 
their  espousal  to  the  Lord,  to  the  minds  of  believers.  How  dis- 
tinctly do  I  remember  the  meeting  in  the  old  school-house  not 
far  from  your  residence  where  the  bow,  though  "drawn  at  a 
venture,"  sent  arrows  of  conviction  into  my  poor  heart,  which 
produced  pain  and  sorrow  from  which  I  could  find  no  relief, 
until  I  found  it  in  the  healing  virtues  contained  in  the  stream 
which  flowed  from  the  pierced  side  of  the  dying  Saviour. 
That  same  night,  after  the  meeting  alluded  to,  we  stopped,  as 
I  well  remember,  at  the  Pilgrim's  Rest,  the  homestead  of 
Brother  Umstad.  Here  we  had  further  devotional  services, 
for  more  besides  myself  felt  very  miserable  on  account  of  our 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTEK.  21 

sins,  and  the  kind  and  zealous  Christian  friends  knew  it, 
and  were  wiUing  to  labor  at  a  late  hour  of  the  night  for  our 
comfort  and  salvation.  How  solemn  was  that  night  to  me, 
when  journeying  homeward  along  the  romantic  Schuylkill, 
alone,  ''  without  Christ  .  . .  having  no  hope  and  without  God 
in  the  world."  Lonely  and  lost  I  indeed  felt.  And  I  regard 
it  as  a  fortunate  circumstance  for  me,  and  much  to  my 
advantage,  that  m}^  home  was  in  a  Christian  family,  that  of 
Brother  Fitzwater.  This  was  another  Bethel — a  place  that 
was  often  felt  to  be  the  "  house  of  God  and  the  gate  of 
Heaven."  In  relation  to  this  place  it  may,  with  propriety,  I 
think,  be  said:  "The  Lord  shall  count  when  he  writeth  up 
the  people,  that  this  man  was  born  there."  Here  we  found, 
I  humbly  trust,  peace  in  believing,  and  experienced  the 
power  of  God  unto  salvation. 

And  what  blessed  meetings  we  had  in  those  days  of  the 
planting  of  the  church  at  "Green  Tree!  "  How  simple  and 
child-like  were  our  exercises!  How  warm  our  zeal !  How 
ardent  our  Christian  love  to  one  another!  How  closely 
were  our  hearts  drawn  together  in  Christian  fellowship  !  And 
we  loved  God  because  he  first  loved  us.  Those  were  happy 
times,  oases,  or  green  and  watered  spots  in  the  land  of  our 
pilgrimage.  Our  sky  was  bright,  and  our  sea,  with  the 
exception  of  some  little  breezes  that  would  rulHe  the  surface 
occasionally,  smooth. 

But  within  the  thirty  years  that  have  come  and  gone 
since  those  halcyon  days,  many  changes  have  taken  place. 
Many  of  those  who  then  worshiped  with  us,  and  encour- 
aged us  with  their  praryers,  their  exhortations,  and  their 
exemplary  lives,  have  left  us — have  gone  away.  "  They  are 
not  lost  but  have  gone  before."  They  are  yet  remembered 
— they  are  yet  loved,  and  will  be  loved  still  more,  when  the 
value  of  the  soul  is  seen  in  the  light  of  Heaven,  and  when 
the  fullness  of  salvation  is  enjoyed  in  the  glorified  state,  for 


22 


A    SKETCH    OF   THE    LIFE    OF 


not  until  then  shall  we  fully  realize  what  Christ  and  his 
Church  have  done  for  us.  The  crown  of  rejoicing  of  Chris- 
tian laborers  will  be  the  souls  saved  through  their  humble 
instrumentality.  And  the  Church,"  without  spot  or  wrinkle," 
presented  as  a  "  chaste  virgin  to  Christ,"  will  be  the  brightest 
jewel  in  King  Messiah's  crown,  and  will  manifest  before  the 
great  congregation  of  universal  intelligences  the  glory  of 
the  great  work  of  redemption. 

And   others  who   have  survived   their   departure  have 
passed   through   many  trials,  conflicts  and   afflictions,   for 
these  are  unavoidable  in  a  world  that  lies  in  wickedness  as 
ours  does.     But  as  our  Lord  and  Master  was  made  "  perfect 
through  suffering"  before  us,  we  should  not  object  to  walk 
in  the  way  which  he  himself  walked  in,  since  there  are  still 
rays  of  glory  reflected  from  his   holy  footsteps.     And  the 
way  of  conflict,  and   trial,  and  suffering,  is  further  recom- 
mended to  us  by  a  consideration  of  the  glorious   state  to 
which  it  leads.     Of  our  divine  Master  it  is  beautifully  and 
encouragingly  said,  "  he  humbled  himself,  and  became  obedi- 
ent unto  death,  even  the  death  of  the  cross.      Wherefore  God 
also  hath  highly  exalted  him  and  given  him  a  name  which 
is  above  every  name."     In  his  case  was  fulfilled  the  promise, 
"  he  that  humbleth  himself  shall  be  exalted."     And  it  shall 
likewise  be  fulfilled  to  all  his  followers  who  humble  them- 
selves and  take  up  their  cross.     "  We  are  encompassed  about 
Avith  a  great  cloud  of  witnesses,"  and  among  them  perhaps 
are  those  to  whom  we  have  already  referred  as  having  once 
worshiped  with  us  in  our  assemblies  on  earth,  "  with  whom 
we  took  sweet  counsel  together  and  with  whom  we  walked 
unto  the   house  of  God  in  company."      They  are  looking 
down  upon  us  with  indescribable  interest,  watching  us  with 
emotions  peculiar  to  the  redeemed  inhabitants  of  Heaven, 
and  beckoning  us  on,  and  pointing  us  to  the  prize  of  immor- 
tality, and  waiting  to  welcome  us  to  everlasting  habitations, 


ELDER   JAMES    QD  INTER.  23 

and  to  receive  us  to  their  number,  that  we  may  share  in 
their  joys.  O,  my  sister,  can  any  of  us  be  so  unfaithful 
to  those  sainted  ones  whom  we  have  loved  and  who 
have  loved  us,  as  to  forsake  those  holy  principles  of 
theirs  in  which  they  lived  and  died,  and  thus  forego  a 
renewal  of  those  tender  connections  with  them  which  once 
afforded  us  so  much  pleasure,  and  which  will  hereafter 
afford  us  infinitely  more  pleasure,  when  we  shall  have  been 
brought  into  that  heavenl  v  state  so  congenial  to  our  immor- 
tal natures  in  developing  all  the  hidden  powers  of  the  soul, 
and  thus  increase  its  susceptibilities  for  the  enjoyment  of 
all  the  blessings  of  the  "  purchased  possession  ? "  This  con- 
sideration, the  consideration  of  losing  the  society  of  the 
saints,  and  especially  of  those  whom  we  have  looked  upon 
as  the  safest,  the  purest,  and  the  best  of  all  companions, 
whose  friendship  we  have  tested,  and  whose  society  we 
have  enjoyed,  should  in  itself  be  a  strong  incentive  to  urge 
us  to  perseverance.  But  alas!  This  and  all  the  other 
numerous  considerations  which  are  presented  to  us  to  lead  us 
to  a "'  patient  continuance  in  well  doing,"  seem  insuflBcient  to 
keep  some  in  the  narrow  path,  and  they  break  over  all  the 
barriers  that  kind  Heaven  has  thrown  in  their  way  to 
prevent  their  destruction,  and  make  shipwreck  of  their 
faith,  and  madly  pursue  their  own  ruin.  Eliphas,  the  friend 
of  Job,  describes  the  character  of  such,  thus  :  "  He  stretcheth 
out  his  hand  against  God,  and  strengtheneth  himself  against 
the  Almighty.  He  runneth  upon  him,  even  on  his  neck, 
upon  the  thick  bosses  of  his  bucklers." 

I  am  also  reminded  that  it  was  at  your  house,  and  in 
that  room  where  we  often  gathered  together  for  religious 
services,  that  I  was  called  by  the  Church  to  the  ministrv. 
The  call  was  unexpected  to  me  at  that  time.  Soon  after 
my  conversion  I  thought  I  had  indications  that  the  Lord 
would   have  me  at  some  time  to  preach  the  Gospel,  and 


24  A    SKETCH    OF    THE    LIFE    OF 

although  I  had  reason  to  believe  the  Church  had  quite  as 
much  confidence  in  me,  and  indeed  much  more  than  I  was 
deserving  of,  still  I  did  not  think  that  the  time  had  yet 
come  for  the  Churcli.  to  confirm  what  I  had  thought  were  the 
impressions  of  the  spirit  of  God  in  regard  to  my  duty  to 
labor  in  the  ministry.  I  believed  that  if  the  impressions  I 
felt  were  produced  by  the  spirit  of  the  Lord,  and  if  I  would 
continue  faithful,  the  time  would  come  when  the  Church, 
in  furthering  the  purposes  of  the  Lord,  would  set  me 
apart  to  the  ministry.  But  I  felt  it  was  my  duty  to 
wait  until  that  time  should  come,  not,  however,  in  idle- 
ness, but  in  such  exercises  and  labors  in  the  service  of  the 
Lord  as  circumstances  required  and  as  prudence  warranted. 
And  never  have  I  felt  my  insufiiciency  for  the  work  to 
which  I  was  then  called,  more  sensibly  than  I  did  at  the 
time  in  which  I  Avas  called.  And  although  I  then  felt  that 
the  responsibility  connected  with  the  Christian  ministry  was 
very  great,  I  appreciate  that  responsibility,  I  think,  at  this 
time  much  more  correctly,  and  feel  it  to  be  proportionately 
greater. 

We  can  not  properly  estimate  the  responsibility  of  the 
Christian  ministry  without  forming  at  least  an  approximate 
value  of  the  immortal  souls  that  the  ministry  was  designed 
to  save  and  purify  for  heaven.  And  as  we  can  not  fully  or 
properly  estimate  the  value  of  a  soul,  neither  can  we  fully 
estimate  the  great  responsibility  that  rests  on  those  who  are 
called  to  perform  the  work  of  the  ministry  of  the  Gospel. 
But  we  know  the  value  of  the  soul  is  great,  or  it  would  not 
have  justified  the  price  of  redemption  which  was  paid  for  it, 
which  was  not  "  silver  and  gold  "  but  "  the  precious  blood  of 
Christ."     The  responsibility,  therefore,  must  be  indeed  great. 

You  call  my  attention  to  some  beautiful  hymns.  I  thank 
you  for  your  suggestions  as  I  know  your  taste  is  good.  I 
believe  all  3^ou  have  named  I  approve  of.  and  had  them  all 


ELDER    JAMES    QUINTER.  25 

marked  for  insertion  in  a  new  collection  of  hymns.  ■  Espe- 
cially do  1  love  the  hymn  you  have  alluded  to  —  "  Nearer  My 
God  to  Thee" — and  which  is  sometimes  called  "Upward." 
I  am  pleased  that  it  has  commended  itself  to  your  mind  as  a 
beautiful  hymn.  It  shows  you  want  to  rise  higher  and 
higher  in  holiness,  and  thus  approach  nearer  and  nearer  to 
God.  This  is  well.  I  would  to  heaven  that  this  was  the 
ardent  desire  of  every  member  of  the  Church.  The  senti- 
ments of  the  hymn  are  so  evangelical  and  in  such  perfect 
harmony  with  the  genuine  spirit  of  Christianity.  I  wonder 
if  you  are  familiar  with  another  hymn  somewhat  similar  to 
the  one  you  have  expressed  some  partiality  for'^  I  admire 
it.  It  expresses  the  hope  of  the  Christian  and  is  called 
"Nearer  Home"  — 

"  One  sweetly  solemn  thought 

Comes  to  me  o'er  and  o'er, 
I'm  nearer  home  to-day 

Than  1  have  been  before,"  etc. 
When  we  are  approaching  nearer  to  God  in  holiness  of 
character,  and  in  sameness  of  feeling,  as  it  is  our  glorious 
privilege  to  do,  since  a  growth  in  grace  is  a  gospel  doctrine, 
or  rather  a  gospel  duty;  and  when  by  the  course  of  nature, 
and  by  the  effect  of  the  numerous  diseases  to  which  we  are 
all  liable,  and  by  some  of  which  many  are  affected  we  are 
borne  forward  to  death,  and  through  death  to  our  Father's 
house  of  many  mansions, 

"Where  the  saints  of  all  ages  in  harmony  meet. 
Their  Saviour  and  brethren,  transported  to  greet," 

how  glorious  is  our  hope !     It  is  indeed  a  "  lively  hope,"  and 
it  is  as  "  an  anchor  to  the  soul." 

"Oh,  what  a  blessed  hope  is  ours  ! 
While  here  on  earth  we  stay, 
We  more  than  taste  the  heavenly  powers, 
And  antedate  that  day.  " 
You  allude  to  your  bereavement  and  still  seem  to  feel 
it  sorely.    Time  and  the  balm  of  Gilead  we  trust  will  heal 


26  A    SKETCH    OF   THE   LIFE   OF 

the  wound,  though  a  sensitiveness  will  remain,  and  when 
reminiscences  of  your  dear  son  occur  to  the  mind,  the  waters 
of  your  spirit  may  still  be  troubled.  But  remember  that 
our  holy  Christianity  teaches  us  to  look  forward  rather  than 
backward.  And  this  lesson,  with  all  others  which  it  incul- 
cates, is  founded  in  wisdom,  and  adapted  to  our  wants, 
since  the  joys  awaiting  us  in  the  future  are  superior  to 
what  we  have  experienced  in  the  past.  In  the  apostle's 
beautiful  development  of  Christian  life,  hope  occupies  a 
higher  place  than  experience.  He  says,  "  We  glory  in  trib- 
ulations also ;  knowing  that  tribulation  worketh  patience ; 
and  patience,  experience  ;  and  experience,  hope."  Then  let 
us  not  sorrow  over  friends  that  we  have  lost,  over  joys  that 
have  fled,  and  over  wrecked  and  shattered  constitutions,  but 
"forgetting  the  past,  press  forward,"  "looking  for  that 
blessed  hope,  and  the  glorious  appearing  of  the  great  God 
and  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ." 

"  We  glory  in  tribulations,"  says  the  apostle.  This  is  a 
great  thing  to  do.  But  Christians  can  do  great  things,  for 
"Christ  strengthening  me,"  says  Paul,  "I  can  do  all 
things. " 

We  do  not  glory  in  tribulations  because  they  are  pleas- 
ant, but  because  they  are  useful.  "Tribulation  worketh 
patience." 

Among  the  reminiscences  of  those  happy  meetings  to 
which  I  have  alluded,  held  in  your  congregation,  is  the 
singing  of  the  "  Garden  Hymn."  I  am  reminded  of  a  verse 
of  it  in  this  connection — in  connection  with  the  idea  of  trib- 
ulation: 

"Our  troubles  and  our  trials  here 

Will  only  make  us  richer  there, 

When  we  arrive  at  home." 

Do  you  sing  this  expressive  hymn  yet  ?  You  no  doubt 
often  think  of  the  sentiments  it  contains.     It  always  affects 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTER.  ii7 

my  mind  pleasantly.  We  used  to  sing  the  closing  verse 
upon  the  admission  of  persons  into  the  Church,  you  wiU 
remember : 

"  Now  here's  my  heart,  and  here's  my  liand, 
To  meet  you  ia  that  heavenly  land, 
Where  we  shall  part  no  more." 

You  allude  in  your  letter  to  some  meetings  that  were 

being  held  in  your  church  for  the  benefit  of  the  members  and 

the  good  of  the  community.     And  you  seemed  to  think  the 

members  were  edified  and  profited   by  them.     If  this  was 

the  case,  then  the  labors  were  not  in  vain.    In  these  times  of 

temptation  and  trial,  Christians  need  all  the  means  of  grace 

with   which   the  Church   has   been   intrusted.     "  Feed   my 

sheep,"  "  Feed  my  lambs,"  was  the  charge  of  the  Saviour  to 

Peter,  and  through  him  to  the  Church.     And  though  the 

minister,  with  all  believers, 

' '  Longs  to  see  the  season  come 
When  sinners  shall  come  flocking  home," 

yet,  if  denied  this  desirable  sight,  how  pleasant  it  is  for 
them  to  see  "the  brethren  dwell  together  in  unity,"  the 
Church  alive,  active,  humble  and  joyful.  And  while  it  is  a 
pleasant  sight  for  those  to  see  that  are  ministering  in  the 
Gospel  to  the  Church,  it  is  very  pleasant  for  the  Church  itself 
to  experience  those  heavenly  emotions  of  joy,  which  it  does 
experience  when  it  is  in  a  heathly  state  and  when  there  is 
a  healthy  circulation  of  the  Holy  Spirit  through  all  its 
members.  And  if  there  is  joy  in  Heaven  when  a  sinner 
repents,  there  is  joy  there  when  pardoned  sinners  are  faith- 
ful to  the  Lord  that  redeemed  them,  and  faithful  to  the 
Church  that  adopted  them.  And  if  the  Church  is  alive  and 
active,  the  work  of  the  Lord  will  be  very  likely  to  prosper. 
The  mission  of  the  "  Green  Tree  "  branch  of  the  Church  is  an 
important  one,  and  I  hope  the  members  all  Avill  appreciate 
it,  and  labor  with  fidelity  in  the  cause  of  Christ  for  the 


28  A    SKETCH    OF   THE    LIFE    OF 

redemption  of  the  world.     "  He  that  hath  an  ear,  let  him 
hear  what  the  Spirit  saith  unto  the  churches," 

Please  remember  me  kindly  to  Brother  George,  and  all 
your  dear  children,  and  to  all  the  dear  Christian  friends.  May 
God  bless  you  and  keep  you  faithful  unto  death.     Farewell. 

Yours  in  Faith  and  Hope, 

James  Quinter. 

The  following  extract  from  a  letter  from  Sister  Susan 
Sidle,  late  of  the  Coventry  Church,  also  contains  some  inter- 
esting reminiscences  of  his  early  ministry.  "  Brother  Quinter 
was  broutrht  here  to  Lawrenceville  bv  a  dear  sister,  Sarah 
Reinwalt,  about  fifty  years  ago.  She  engaged  the  old 
school-house  and  had  the  brethren  come  and  preach.  We 
lived  only  a  few  rods  from  the  school-house  at  that  time, 
and  Brother  Quinter  often  stopped  with  us  under  our  roof 
and  gave  us  encouraging  and  cheering  words.  How  glad  we 
were  of  his  company,  and  his  earnest  prayers  did  us  so  much 
good.  In  connection  with  his  prayers  he  kept  the  fast.  No 
wonder  he  was  enabled  to  show  forth  such  a  good  example, 
and  such  a  bright  and  shining  light  that  he  was  beloved 
by  the  brotherhood.  Through  the  efforts  of  Sister  Sarah 
Reinwalt,  and  the  labors  mostly  of  Brother  Quinter,  the  first 
protracted  meeting  was  held  in  this  church. 

He  had  never  relinquished  his  habit  of  private  study, 
and  now  with  a  determined  purpose  he  set  himself  more 
earnestly  to  the  task  of  thoroughly  preparing  his  mind  and 
heart  for  the  sacred  work.  It  became  the  inspiration  of 
his  life.  Henceforth  the  duties  of  his  holy  office  held  the 
first  place  in  his  heart.  A  deep  sense  of  the  great  responsi- 
bility he  had  accepted  was  ever  present  with  him.  It  Avas 
about  this  time  that  he  adopted  the  custom  of  setting  apart 
certain  days  for  fasting  and  prayer.  This  habit  was  con- 
tinued throughout  his  life.  The  days  so  set  apart  were 
passed,  as  far  as  possible,  in  solitude.  From  them  he  always 
came  with  renewed  strength  and  zeal  for  his  work. 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTEK,  29 

At  the  annual  meeting  held  in  the  A  ugh  wick  church  in 
1839,  Brother  John  Umstad  arranged  to  visit  a  number  of  the 
churches  in  the  valleys  of  Pennsylvania  during  the  fall  of 
the  same  year.  On  this  journey  he  was  accompanied  by 
Brother  Quinter.  This  was  his  first  preaching  tour  after 
entering  the  ministry.  They  traveled  on  horseback  and,  as 
the  journey  extended  to  the  western  part  of  the  State,  much 
of  it  was  laborious.  The  churches  were  scattered.  Many  of 
them  were  long  distances  apart,  yet  as  the  labor  was  under- 
taken with  a  desire  to  strengthen  and  build  up  the  churches 
and  to  promote  the  cause  of  Christ  it  proved  to  be  both 
pleasant  and  profitable.  The  visit  to  the  George's  Creek 
church  led  to  his  removal  there  a  few  years  later. 

All  his  visits  among  the  brethren  w^ere  marked  by  a  devo- 
tional spirit,  and  many  have  testified  to  the  encouragement 
they  received  from  his  words  of  Christian  counsel  and 
his  earnest  prayers.  An  incident  which  occurred  on  this 
first  tour  among  the  churches  illustrates  the  prayerful  spirit 
of  his  life.  While  the  brethren  w^ere  in  the  Hopewell 
Church,  Bedford  county,  they  were  called  one  night  to  visit 
a  home  in  which  the  daughter  w^as  afflicted  with  epileptic 
fits.  As  they  stood  looking  upon  her  suff"ering,  he  said: 
"  Brethren,  let  us  pray  ;"  and,  kneeling,  he  prayed  fervently 
in  her  behalf.  She  was  relieved  at  tlie  time,  and  her  afflic- 
tion never  returned.  This  incident  and  the  spirit  manifested 
did  much  to  dispel  the  prejudice  which  many  were  disposed 
to  feel  against  him  on  account  of  his  youthful  appearance. 

Every  opportunity  to  promote  the  cause  of  Christ  and 
to  present  the  theme  of  salvation  was  gladly  improved. 
Though  the  calls  of  duty  ofttimes  involved  personal  sacri- 
fice, he  was  none  the  less  ready  to  heed  them.  At  one 
time,  while  teaching  in  Lumberville,  he  was  called  to 
visit  and  pray  with  a  young  woman  who  was  suffering  with 
smallpox.     As   he  could  not  bring  upon  his  pupils  the  dan- 


30  A   SKETCH    OF   THE    LIFE   OF 

ger  of  infection,  he  closed  his  school  and  responded  to  the 
request.  He  felt  it  to  be  a  call  of  duty,  and,  though  fully 
aware  of  the  danger  incurred,  he  trusted  that  the  Lord 
would  protect  hira.  He  escaped,  and  when  all  danger  of 
infection  was  past  he  reopened  his  school. 

In  the  spring  of  1842,  in  response  to  the  request  of  the 
George's  Creek  Church,  Fayette  county,  Pa.,  he  came  thither 
from  his  home  in  Montgomery  county,  Pa.  In  the  late  fall 
of  the  same  year  he  brought  his  mother,  sister  and  nephews 
to  his  new  home.  The  Church  gave  him  as  a  home  a  small 
farm,  on  which,  with  much  labor  and  economy,  with  the 
assistance  of  his  nephews,  he  was  able  to  earn  a  very  moder- 
ate livelihood.  Here  also  for  some  years  he  taught  during 
the  winter  months.  As  there  was  no  school-house  in  the  dis- 
trict, the  school  was  kept  in  the  Mennonite  meeting-house. 
He  was  also  selected  by  the  board  of  directors  of  Nicholson 
township  to  examine  the  teachers  of  that  township  with 
reference  to  their  qualifications  for  teaching. 

In  addition  to  his  ministerial  work  at  home,  he  accepted 
calls  from  the  surrounding  churches,  and  often  traveled 
many  miles  on  horseback  over  the  mountains  to  fill  distant 
appointments.  The  following  extract  from  a  letter  from 
Brother  John  Wise  refers  to  his  ministry  in  the  Ten-mile 
Church  : 

"In  the  spring  of  1842  he  came  to  western  Pennsylva- 
nia. An  arrangement  was  made  by  which  he  was  to  devote 
a  part  of  his  time  to  the  Ten-mile  congregation.  June  14, 
1842,  I  and  ray  sister  were  baptized,  and  between  that  date 
and  October  18th,  there  were  fifty-two  persons  baptized  in 
that  congregation  under  his  ministry.  He  was  also  present 
when  I  was  chosen  to  the  ministry  and  gave  much  encour- 
agement by  his  kindly  talk.  To  his  fatherly  care  for  me  I 
owe  much  of  my  success  in  the  ministry.  We  traveled 
together  and  I  labored  with  him  as  a  son  with  a  father  in 


ELDER   JAMES    QCINTER.  31 

the  Gospel.  Many  excellent  lessons  were  learned  from  his 
example.  So  pious,  so  meek,  he  impressed  all  with  his 
piety." 

On  September  17,  1850,  he  was  married  to  Mary  Ann 
daughter  of  Brother  Daniel  Moser.  A  daughter,  Lydia 
Isabella,  was  born  to  them  April  15, 1854.  She  was  married 
September  20,  1877,  in  the  Pilgrim  chapel,  Huntingdon,  Pa., 
by  her  father,  to  Elder  J.  T.  Meyers,  of  the  Green  Tree 
Church,  Montgomery  county,  Pa.  A  son,  named  for  his 
grandfather  James  Quinter,  was  born  to  them  January  23, 
1882,  and  a  daughter,  Grace  Quinter,  July  6,  1885. 

In  1851  Elder  Henry  Kurtz  began  to  publish  the  Gospel 
Visitor  in  Poland,  Mahoning  county,  Ohio.  It  was  designed 
as  a  religious  monthly,  "devoted  to  the  exhibition  and 
defense  of  Gospel-principles  and  Gospel-practice  in  their  primi- 
tive purity  and  simplicity  in  order  to  promote  Christian 
union,  brotherly  love,  and  universal  charity."  So  meager 
were  the  mechanical  facilities  for  its  publication  that  it  was 
said,  and  with  a  good  deal  of  truth,  that "  The  Gospel  Visitor 
is  published  in  the  loft  of  a  milk-house  in  the  backwoods  of 
Ohio,  and  three  miles  from  the  post-office." 

This  was  the  beginning  of  periodical  literature  in  the 
Church  of  the  Brethren.  While  it  was  bitterly  opposed  by 
some,  by  many  it  was  gladly  welcomed  as  affording  wider 
opportunities  for  spreading  the  truths  of  the  Gospel.  Among 
the  earliest  contributors  was  Brother  Quinter.  Under  the 
name  Clement  he  contributed  a  series  of  articles  on  "  The 
Elements  of  the  Christian  Character." 

The  Visitor  increased  in  size  and  circulation  until  the 
burden  of  its  publication  became  too  great  for  one  editor, 
and  Brother  Kurtz  desired  an  assistant.  In  his  editorial,  in 
January,  1856,  he  says  :  "  The  constant  increase  of  labor 
became  exceedingly  burdensome  and  grievous  to  us,  and 
long  already  we  looked  around  for  assistance.     We  durst  not 


32  A    SKETCH    OF   THE    LIFE   OF 

make  our  own  choice.  We  waited  patiently  for  some 
token  of  Providence.  The  Lord  graciously  granted  such  a 
token  at  the  last  Yearly  Meeting.  There  our  dear  Brother 
James  Quinter  was  nominated  as  our  assistant  in  the  clerk- 
ship, and  performed  the  duties  thereof  acceptably,  as  we 
have  reason  to  believe,  to  the  whole  meeting.  From  this  we 
took  courage  to  call  him  to  our  assistance  in  the  editorship, 
as  being  pointed  out  by  the  finger  of  God,  and  we  rejoice 
to  say  that  he  has  accepted  the  call,  and  will  shortly  enter 
upon  the  duties  of  the  same." 

"  To  this  arrangement  we  were  led  not  merely  by  a 
desire  of  being  somewhat  relieved  of  a  burden.  The  reflec- 
tion that  our  work  should  depend  on  such  a  frail,  poor, 
unworthy  being  as  we  are,  and  would  have  to  stop  in  case  of 
our  sickness,  and  to  cease  if  we  should  be  called  off  this 
stage  of  action,  distressed  us.  This  desire  that  our  Master's 
work  should  go  on  as  long  as  it  pleases  Him  has  been  our 
main  motive  for  the  arrangement." 

In  response  to  Brother  Kurtz's  request  he  removed  from 
Fayette  county,  Pa.,  to  Poland,  Mahoning  county,  Ohio,  in 
the  spring  of  1856.  His  removal  from  the  church  in  which 
he  had  labored  for  so  many  years,  and  among  whose  mem- 
bers he  had  formed  many  warm  attachments,  was  attended 
with  no  small  degree  of  pain.  He  says  of  it :  "  We  felt  the 
grief  of  separation  to  bear  with  weight  upon  our  spirit,  but 
we  had  counted  the  cost  and  weighed  the  matter  maturely, 
and  acted  not  from  an  impulse  of  hasty  excitement,  but 
from  an  impression  of  duty.  Consequently,  our  sorrow  was 
mino-led  with  joy,  for  an  honest  discharge  of  duty  is  ever 
attended  with  joyful  feelings.  But,  although  we  took  com- 
fort ourselves  from  the  promises  of  God,  and  endeavored  to 
administer  comfort  to  those  Avith  whom  we  parted,  still  we 
felt,  when  standing  before  the  congregation  before  which  we 
had  often  stood,  and  at  times  with  trembling  anxiety  for 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTER,  33 

their  good,  and  for  the  good  of  the  cause  we  were  pleading, 
emotions  which  we  had  not  fully  anticipated.  We  neven 
experienced  anything  exactly  similar.  It  is  true  we  had 
on  a  former  occasion  removed  from  friends  and  scenes 
endeared  to  us  by  the  happiest  associations,  but  our  minis- 
terial labors  there  were  performed  in  the  childhood  of  our 
ministr}^,  and  we  did  not  feel  the  same  amount  of  responsi- 
bility rest  upon  us  as  we  did  in  our  late  charge.  Here  our 
labors  had  been  many,  and  our  concern  for  the  salvation  of 
souls  at  times  deep.  The  thought  of  our  relation  as  pastor 
and  flock  ceasing,  and  the  thought  that  our  separation  may 
be  a  final  one  on  earth,  produced  feelings  of  tender  and 
peculiar  solemnity.  We  had  asked  for  our  dismission,  and 
received  but  a  silent  consent.  We  knew  the  minds  of  many 
of  our  dear  brethren  and  sisters,  and  a  knowledge  of  their 
grief  made  ours  the  greater.  But  we  greatly  rejoiced  that, 
although  we  had  taken  the  preparatory  ste]:)s  to  separate 
ourselves  in  person  from  the  brethren  among  whom  we  had 
long  dwelt,  yet  they  had  not  withdrawn  their  affections 
from  us." 

His  first  editorial  was  published  in  June,  1856.  In  this 
editorial  he  says:  "  The  Church  of  Christ  should  avail  her- 
self of  every  lawful  means  at  her  disposal  for  the  promotion 
of  knowledge,  purity,  union  and  edification  among  her  mem- 
bers, and  for  the  enlargement  of  her  dominions  by  the  con- 
version of  sinners.  These  she  is  under  obligation  to  do  both 
from  fidelity  to  her  Lord  and  Master  and  from  a  proper 
regard  to  her  own  prosperity  and  success.  Regarding,  then, 
as  I  do,  the  press  as  an  instrumentality  which  may  advan- 
tageously be  used  by  the  Church  for  the  accomplishment  of 
those  noble  ends  which  her  own  organization  in  the  world 
was  designed  to  accomplish,  I  rejoiced  at  the  appearance  of 
the  Gospel  Visitor  among  us,  and  hailed  its  birth  as  a  favor- 
able sign  of  progress." 


34  A    SKETCH    OF   THE   LIFE   OF 

"A  variety  of  qualifications  is  necessary  for  those  whose 
Hausiness  it  is  to  provide  for  the  pubhc.  The  editor  of  a 
Christian  journal,  as  well  as  a  minister  of  tlie  Gospel,  should 
not  shun  to  declare  the  '  whole  counsel  of  God.'  But  with 
Paul,  he  should  endeavor  to  '  give  no  offense  neither  to  the 
Jews,  nor  to  the  Gentiles,  nor  to  the  Church  of  God.'  And 
in  performing  his  duty  as  a  public  reformer,  whether  he 
refutes  an  error,  or  reproves  the  errorist,  or  instructs  the 
ignorant,  or  wakes  up  the  sleepy,  or  rebukes  the  guilty,  or 
encourages  the  weary,  his  words  should  be  baptized  with 
the  spirit  of  ardent  love,  that  they  may  brand  their  mean- 
ing on  the  minds  addressed It  has  been  with  con- 
siderable reluctance  that  I  have  consented  to  become  assist- 
ant editor,  but  the  hope  that  the  relation  which  I  shall  sus- 
tain to  the  brotherhood,  through  the  Gospel  Visitor,  may 
afford  me  increased  facilities  for  rendering  service  to  the 
Church,  and  through  the  Church  to  the  Lord,  has  induced 
me  to  assume  the  responsibilities  which  I  have." 

In  the  autumn  of  1856,  with  his  wife  and  little  daughter, 
he  made  an  extended  visit  to  the  churches  in  eastern 
Pennsylvania.  The  churches  of  Green  Tree  and  Cov- 
entry, as  they  were  associated  with  his  early  life,  his  first 
Christian  experience,  and  his  first  work  in  tlie  minis- 
try, were  always  regarded  with  feelings  of  deep,  prayer- 
ful interest  and  tender  affection.  A  visit  to  these  scenes 
of  his  early  life  was  always  a  source  of  pleasure.  Of  this 
visit  he  says:  "The  brethren  at  Green  Tree  had  made 
arrangements  for  meeting  some  days.  It  })leased  the  Lord 
to  hear  and  answer  prayer,  and  to  own  and  bless  his 
preached  word.  Christians  were  built  up  "  on  their  most  holy 
faith  "  and  made  to  "  rejoice  in  God  their  Saviour."  Sinners 
were  distressed  upon  discovering  that  they  were  lost,  but 
by  exercising  repentance  toward  God,  and  faith  in  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  by  taking  up  their  cross  and  con- 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTEE.  165 

fessing  Christ,  they  were  made  to  rejoice  in  the  hope  of 
eternal  life.  A  more  solemn  meeting  throughout  we  never 
witnessed.  The  meeting  continued  about  two  weeks  ;  dur- 
ing which  time,  thirty-two  were  added  to  the  Church  by 
baptism.  And  at  the  close  of  the  meeting  there  were 
others  who  offered  themselves  as  candidates  for  baptism. 
While  angels  in  beaven  rejoiced,  fathers  and  mothers 
rejoiced  at  witnessing  the  pleasing  sight  they  were  permitted 
to  see,  when  their  children  said  by  their  profession  and 
actions,  we  will  go  to  heaven  with  you.  And  it  was  pleas- 
ant to  see  what  the  occasion  afforded  an  opportunity  of 
seeing,  a  considerable  number  of  men  with  their  bosom 
companions,  entering  the  gate  to  walk  the  way  of  eternal 
life  together,  and  thus  showing  a  happy  union  of  feeling  and 
practice  in  relation  to  their  eternal  interests.  And  it  was 
no  less  pleasant  to  see  interesting  young  men  and  women 
take  up  their  cross  to  follow  Christ.  He  will  lead  them,  if 
they  follow  him,  from  the  corrupting  ways  of  sin  into  the 
pleasant  paths  of  virtue  while  on  earth,  and,  when  they  are 
on  earth  no  more,  he  will  lead  them  to  '  fountains  of  living 
waters  '  in  heaven. " 

"  The  recollection  that  several  of  the  converts  had  in 
former  years  been  our  pupils,  and  that  they  had  often 
bowed  with  us  in  our  school-room,  while  we  endeavored  to 
implore  heaven's  blessing  upon  them,  gave  us  increased 
pleasure  at  witnessing  their  'good  confession.'  " 

"  As  it  was  among  these  brethren  that  we  sought  and 
found  the  Lord,  and  among  them  we  commenced  our  min- 
istry, we  felt  much  at  home  among  them.  It  was  truly 
refreshing  to  our  hearts  to  see  them,  and  greet  them,  and 
to  have  communion  of  spirit  with  them.  Sweet  and  pleasant 
was  the  time  we  spent  among  them,  and  painful  was  it  to 
part,  and  much  more  so  would  it  have  been    but  for  the 


36  A    SKETCH   OF    THE    LIFE    OF 

hope  that  '  we  shall  meet  again  '  in  our  Father's  house.  Foi; 
this  hope  let  us  bless  God  :  for  it  let  us  live^,  and  in  it  may 
we  all  die." 

In  June,  1857,  the  office  of  the  VWdor  was  removed  from 
Poland  to  Columbiana.  This  Avas  done  in  order  to  afford 
better  publishing  and  mailing  facilities.  Shortly  after  this, 
Elder  Kurtz  retired  from  the  business  and  his  son  Henry 
took  his  place. 

Through  the  summer  and  autumn  of  1857  his  wife  was 
afflicted  with  consumption.  On  September  2d,  she  was 
anointed,  and  as  slie  greatly  desired  to  see  her  parents 
again  he  accompanied  her  shortly  afterward  to  her  old  home 
in  Fayette  county,  where  she  died,  October  9th. 

His  mother  and  sister,  who  had  remained  in  Faj^ette 
county  when  he  removed  to  Ohio,  now  came  to  care  for 
his  home  and  his  motherless  little  daughter. 

April  11,  18G1,  he  was  married  to  Fanny,  daughter  of 
Elder  John  Studebaker.  To  them  two  daughters  were  born 
— Mary  IST.,  January  21,  1863,  and  Grace,  June  10,  1870. 
These  daughters,  with  their  mother,  reside  in  Huntingdon, 
Pa. 

His  own  desire  for  an  education  and  his  struggles  to 
obtain  it  developed  a  deep  interest  in  education.  A  school 
under  the  control  and  influence  of  the  Brethren,  where  the 
youth  of  the  Church  might  be  educated  'surrounded  by  the 
influences  of  Gospel  Christianity  was  a  dream  of  his  youth 
and  a  plan  of  his  manhood.  Others  shared  this  feeling  and 
in  the  early  years  of  the  Visitor  va^y  be  found  references  to  a 
high  school  to  be  established  in  the  Brotherhood. 

In  a  letter  written  to  the  Visitor  in  March,  1856,  he  men- 
tions the  need  of  suitable  teachers — those  in  the  church  suffi- 
ciently qualified — and  suggests  a  plan  by  which  worthy  young 
brethren  might  be  educated  to  fill  the  positions.  In  an  article 
m  September  of  the  same  year,  in  answering  some  objections 
to  the  proposed  school,  he  sa3's: 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTEK.  37 

"If  our  youth  now  desire  anything  more  than  a  com- 
mon-school education,  they  are  compelled  to  resort  to 
institutions  not  under  that  pure  Christian  influence  which 
we,  as  parents,  should  want  our  youth  placed  under,  and 
thus,  by  failing  to  afford  them  the  helps  desirable  for  pursu- 
ing their  studies,  we  may  in  some  degree  endanger  their 
spiritual  welfare.  And  not  only  so,  but  we  are  in  danger  of 
losing  the  influence  and  talents  of  many  of  our  3'outh,  as 
they  will  not  be  likely  to  feel  the  same  respect  for,  and 
attachment  to,  our  denomination,  should  they  not  find  in  us 
an  inclination  to  sympathize  with  them  in  their  desires  for 
mental  culture  and  a  readiness  to  afford  them  suitable 
opportunities  for  obtaining  that  culture,  that  they  would  if 
they  found  the  Church  ready  to  encourage  them,  and  to  take 
them  under  her  sheltering  wing,  and  to  feed  them  with  use- 
ful knowledge Knowing  that  a  number 

of  our  young  people  are  from  home,  pursuing  their  studies 
in  other  institutions  of  learning,  and  feeling  a  deep  concern 
for  the  welfare  of  our  youth,  and  a  growing  attachment  to 
the  holy  doctrines  and  practices  of  Christianity  as  held  by  our 
beloved  brethren,  we  confess  we  feel  no  little  desire  to  see  the 
Church  affording  her  youth  every  opportunity  necessary  for 
the  promotion  of  their  happiness  and  usefulness.  We  think 
that  it  is  not  only  right  that  the  Church  should  encourage 
institutions  in  which  our  youth  may  acquire  useful  knowl- 
edge, but  we  think  it  is  her  duty — a  duty  she  owes  to  her 
God,  to  herself,  and  to  the  rising  generation — to  encourage 
and  build  up  such  institutions." 

Toward  the  close  of  the  same  article  he  describes  his  ideal 
of  an  institution  such  as  he  desired  to  see  established :  "  We 
would  expect  such  an  institution  to  be  under  the  influence 
of  spiritually-minded  Brethren.  We  would  want  religious 
teachers — teachers  who  would  have  a  regard  to  the  relig- 
ious as  well  as  to  the  intellectual  improvements  of  the 


38  A    SKETCH    OF    THE    LIFE   OF 

students, — consequently  the  students  would  have  religious 
counsel  administered  to  them.  We  would  have  the  Bible 
daily  used  in  the  institution.  We  would  have  the  students 
to  board  in  a  religious  family  and  have  them  led  daily  to  a 
throne  of  grace  and  Heaven's  blessing  invoked  upon  them. 
In  short,  we  would  have  the  school  to  resemble  a  pious 
family,  under  such  rules  as  would  discountenance  whatever 
is  evil,  and  encourage  whatever  is  good." 

At  the  time  of  the  removal  of  the  Visitor  to  Columbiana, 
a  plan  to  establish  the  proposed  school  in  that  locality  was 
under  consideration.  However,  after  residing  here  for  a  time, 
Brother  Kurtz  and  Brother  Quinter  concluded  that  it  was 
not  a  desirable  locality  and  began  to  look  about  for  a  better 
one. 

A  good  brick  building  erected  for  an  academy  in  New 
Yienna,  Clinton  county,  Ohio,  being  offered  for  sale,  and 
the  prospects  of  a  school  there  being  thought  favorable,  the 
brethren  of  the  Fall  Creek  congregation,  in  the  vicinity  of 
New  Vienna,  proposed  to  purchase  the  academy  building 
provided  it  should  be  occupied  by  the  Brethren  as  a  school. 
They  examined  the  location  and  surroundings,  and,  being 
rather  pleased  with  the  place,  gave  the  Brethren  there  some 
encouragement.  The  building  was  purchased,  but,  as  it  was 
impossible  to  remove  the  Visitor  at  the  time,  on  account  of 
the  depressed  state  of  business,  it  was  decided  that  Brother 
Quinter  should  remove  to  Vienna  and  open  the  school.  He 
was,  however,  still  to  work  for  the  Gospel   Visitor. 

The  school  was  accordingly  opened  on  October  14,  1861, 
and  continued  for  three  years  with  a  reasonable  degree  of 
success,  though  begun  under  unfavorable  circumstances  and 
meeting  with  much  opposition.  It  was  closed  June  27, 1864, 
on  account  of  the  disturbed  condition  of  the  country  during 
the  War  of  the  Kebellion.  In  this  enterprise — which  was 
the  beginning  of  educational  work  in  the  church — he  was 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTER.  39 

assisted  by  Brother  O.  W.  Miller,  who  was  principal,  Sister 
C.  A.  Haas  and  daughter  Hattie,  and  Sisters  Mary  Craig  and 
Lettie  and  Rachel  Day.  The  following  notice,  which  may 
be  found  in  the  Gospel  Visiter  during  1861-2-3,  shows  the 
plan  and  nature  of  the  work : 


EDUCATIONAL  INSTITUTE. 
New  Vienna,  Clinton  Co  ,  O. 
This  institution  for  young  ladies  and  young  men, 
situated  on  the  Marietta  &  Cincinnati  railroad,  has  been 
in  successful  operation  for  some  time.  Competent 
teachers  are  employed,  and  it  will  be  the  aim  of  these 
and  all  connected  with  the  institution  to  merit  a  liberal 
share  of  patronage. 

SESSIONS   OP   STUDY. 

The  year  will  be  divided  into  three  sessions  of  four- 
teen weeks  each.  The  first  session  will  commence  on 
the  first  Monday  of  September. 

TERMS.  * 

Primary  Department  per  session  $3.75 

Secondary        .<  ..  ^      5  00 

Grammar         "  "  6.50 

Higher  "  "  8.00 

Boarding  can  be  obtained  at  $3.25  per  week,  includ- 
ing room  rent,  fuel  and  lights. 

For  farther  information  address  the  undersigned  at 
the  above  place. 

J.  QuiNTER,  Sup't. 


After  the  close  of  the  school  at  Vienna  he  returned  to 
Columbiana,  and  in  the  fall  of  1866  the  office  of  the  Visitor 
was  removed  to  Covington,  Miami  county,  Ohio.  Of  this 
removal  he  thus  writes  :  "  We  have  spread  our  tent  and 
raised  our  altar  among  the  brethren  and  friends  in  this 
vicinity.  And  we  hope  our  residence  among  them,  and 
our  associations  with  them,  may  be  both  pleasant  and  useful 


40  A    SKETCH    OF    THE    LIFE    OF 

to  them  and  to  us.  This  is  our  wish  and  our  prayer.  The 
change  we  have  made  was  not  made  without  much  reflection 
and  prayer.  And  when  the  time  came  for  us  to  leave  those 
with  whom  we  had  associated,  and  with  whom  we  had 
worshiped  as  Christians,  we  felt  the  separation  to  be  very 
painful.  How  true  it  is  that  we  do  not  appreciate  the 
strength  of  attachments  until  the  chords  that  bind  loving 
hearts  together  are  sundered.  But  the  future  of  Christians 
promises  them  a  happy  reunion  where  the  pleasures  of  friend- 
ship, with  all  other  pleasures,  will  be  complete  and  lasting. 
"We  felt  reluctant  to  leave  the  Mahoning  Church,  and  shall 
not  cease  to  feel  an  interest  in  its  welfare  and  prosperity, 
and  to  pray  that  the  great  Head  of  the  Church  may  bless  it 
with  His  presence,  and  make  it  what  every  branch  of  the 
Church  and  every  individual  member  of  the  Church  should 
be,  a  blessing  to  the  world." 

"  In  coming  to  this  place  we  met  with  a  very  kind  and 
Christian  reception,  and  think  we  shall  feel  much  at  home  in 
this  community.  The  town  of  Covington  is  pleasantly  sit- 
uated in  the  midst  of  a  fertile  and  well-improved  country, 
and  possesses  many  advantages  as  a  place  of  residence. 
There  are  severa]  flourishing  congregations  of  the  Brethren 
in  the  neighborhood,  and  one  in  and  around  the  town.  The 
opportunities  for  attending  public  worship  are  very  good." 

The  Visitor  was  published  in  Covington  until  May,  1869, 
when  the  office  of  publication  was  removed  to  Dayton,  Ohio. 
The  editorial  office  remained  in  Covington.  In  1873  the 
editor  purchased,  from  H.  J.  Kurtz,  the  publishing  interest 
of  the  Visitor,  and  at  the  same  time  purchased  of  H.  R. 
Holsinger  The  Christian  Family  Companion,  a  church 
weekly,  published  at  Meyersdale,  Somerset  county,  Pa.  The 
two  papers  were  united  under  the  name  The  Christian 
Family  Companion  and  Gospel  Visitor  and  the  weekly  pub- 
lication continued  at  Meyersdale.     In   January,  1876,  the 


ELDER    JAMES    QUINTER.  41 

name  was  changed  to  The  Primitive  Christian.  In  October, 
1876,  this  paper  was  united  with  The  Pilgrim^  also  a  weekly, 
published  by  H.  B.  and  J.  B.  Brumbaugh  at  Huntingdon, 
Pa.  A  plan  to  unite  the  three  church  periodicals  had  been 
proposed  in  1870,  but  as  it  did  not  seem  to  be  expedient  at 
the  time  the  union  was  deferred. 

The  publication  of  the  united  papers  under  the  name 
The  Primitive  Christian  and  Pilgrim,  was  continued  at 
^^untingdon  by  the  firm  of  Quinter  &  Brumbaugh  Bros. 

Upon  his  removal  to  Huntingdon  he  thus  writes  : 

"  Trusting  it  has  been  the  providence  of  God  that  has  so 
directed  events  as  to  bring  us  here,  we  shall  try  to  adapt  our- 
selves to  our  new  position  and  new  associations,  and  hope  in 
the  promises  of  God  wherein  he  has  said :  '  I  am  with  thee 
in  all  places  whither  thou  goest ; '  'as  thy  days,  so  shall  thy 
strength  be ; '  '  and  whatsoever  he  doeth  shall  prosper.' 

"  We  find  a  little  company  of  brethren  and  sisters  here 
who  are  not  only  endeavoring  to  be  faithful,  but  who  seem 
to  be  laboring  to  grow  in  grace  and  in  the  knowledge  of  the 
truth.  We  trust  this  little  church,  the  members  of  which 
frequently  come  together,  in  a  room  in  our  office  prepared 
for  the  purpose,  to  do  as  the  faithful  of  old  did — to  speak 
'  often  one  to  another,'  about  the  Lord  and  the  '  things  which 
concern  salvation,'  will  form  a  nucleus  around  which  many 
will  be  drawn,  and  from  the  body  thus  formed  a  Christian 
influence  go  out  that  may  be  widely  felt. 

"  But  while  our  thoughts  are  much  engrossed  with  our 
pressing  and  numerous  duties,  and  with  our  new  surround- 
ings and  associations,  we  find  our  mind  frequently  reverting 
to  the  dear  friends  from  whom  we  lately  separated  with 
much  sorrow.  It  has  been  our  lot  to  live  in  different  locali- 
ties, and  in  all  these  to  form'  pleasant  acquaintances  and  to 
add  to  our  list  of  friends.  And  whenever  circumstances 
called  for  a  separation  from  those  friends,  the  separation  has 


42  A    SKETCH    OF   THE    LIFE    OF 

been  painful  to  our  feelings.  But  never  did  we  feel  more  sorrow 
at  any  such  separation  than  when  we  left  the  friends  of  Meyers- 
dale.  When  the  time  came  for  leaving  them  we  felt  much 
worse  than  we  had  anticipated.  While  our  connection  with  the 
large  congregation  of  the  Elk  Lick  brethren  was  marked 
apparently  by  a  reciprocal  feeling  of  kindness  between  them 
and  ourselves,  there  v^^as  a  number  of  the  members  of  the 
congregation  that  lived  in  and  about  the  town,  with  whom  we 
often  met  at  our  Sunday  night  meetings,  and  in  the  Bible  class 
and  in  the  Sabbath-school,  and  on  other  occasions,  between 
whom  and  ourselves  a  very  tender  and  warm  feeling  of  broth- 
erly love  existed.  These  dear  friends  were  much  grieved  and 
were  very  reluctant  to  see  us  go  when  the  time  for  leaving  came. 
And  their  sorrow  increased  ours,  and  we  confess  our  separa- 
tion was  to  us  a  cause  of  much  tender  grief.  The  little  social 
gathering  in  Brother  Beachly's  parlor  the  night  before  we 
left,  and  the  gathering  at  the  depot  of  many  Christian 
friends  to  show  their  Christian  love  and  to  bid  us  the  affec- 
tionate farewell,  are  scenes  so  fresh  in  our  memory  that  a 
reference  to  them  starts  the  tears  from  the  tender  feelings 
that  come  over  us  when  we  think  of  those  occasions  charac- 
terized by  so  much  love  and  tenderness.  But  such  tears  are 
not  altogether  tears  of  sorrow.  There  is  joy  mixed  with 
them.  They  show  the  presence  of  love  and  union.  Oh,  we 
do  not  know  how  much  we  love  one  another  until  by  death 
or  removal  we  are  called  upon  to  separate ! 

"  'Hail,  sweetest,  dearest  tie,  that  binds 
Our  glowing  hearts  in  one  ; 
Hail,  sacred  hope,  that  tunes  our  minds 
To  harmony  divine.' 

"  We  cherish  a  kind  regard  for  the  brethren  and  sisters 
and  friends  of  Meyersdale,  and  must  now  regret  in  being 
separated  from  them,  that  our  sojourn  among  them  was  not 
more  to  their  profit,  and  that  we  did  not  labor  more  dili- 


ELDEK   JAMES   QUINTER.  43 

gently  and  faithfully  to  do  them  good.  And  though  circum- 
stances seem  to  require  us  to  leave  them,  we  hope  the  Lord 
will  be  with  them,  and  richly  supply  the  ministering  breth- 
ren with  the  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  that  they  may  feed 
the  flock,  and  nurse  the  lambs,  and  so  preach  and  labor  that 
they  may  both  save  themselves  and  them  that  hear  them. 
Oh !  let  us  all  so  live,  that  we  may  enjoy  the  sweet  hope 
of  a  blessed  reunion  of  all  we  have  loved  in  Christ,  and 
worshiped  with  on  earth." 

In  June,  1883,  The  Primitive  Christian  was  consolidated 
with  The  Brethren  at  Work^  and,  as  The  Gospel  Messenger^  con- 
tinued to  be  published  by  The  Brethren's  Publishing  Com- 
pany, at  Mt.  Morris,  111.,  and  at  Huntingdon,  Pa.  On  this 
paper  as  on  the  Primitive  Christian  Brother  Quinter  held 
the  position  of  Editor-in-Chief. 

The  Normal  school  which  had  been  opened  by  Brother 
J.  M.  Zuck  in  the  Pilgrim  building  was  a  strong  inducement 
to  Brother  Quinter  to  make  his  home  in  Huntingdon.  His 
interest  in  educational  work  had  grown  stronger  and  he 
rejoiced  to  find  an  educational  project  again  under  way 
among  the  Brethren  and  was  ready  to  lend  all  his  influence 
in  its  favor.  Though  the  Normal  had  a  small  beginning,  yet 
the  fervent  prayers  and  earnest  zeal  of  the  brave,  true  hearts 
interested  in  her  welfare  soon  had  their  reward  in  her 
growth  and  prosperity.  Opened  at  first  in  a  room  in  the 
Pilgrim  building,  larger  quarters  were  soon  demanded  and  a 
house  was  rented.  This  also  proved  too  small  and  an  effort 
was  made  to  secure  funds  to  erect  a  suitable  building.  iiThis 
resulted  in  1878  in  the  erection  of  a  building  pleasantly: sit- 
uated on  an  elevation  overlooking  the  borough  of  Hunting- 
don and  the  surrounding  country.  The  school  was  chartered 
the  same  year  under  the  name  of  The  Brethren's  Normal 
College.  The  new  building  was  first  occupied  in  April,  18T9. 
Shortly  after  the  school  had  been  so  pleasantly  opened  in 


44  A    SKETCH    OF    THE    LIFE    OF 

its  new  home,  the  death  of  its  founder  and  honored  princi- 
pal, in  May,  1879,  cast  a  gloom  over  its  bright  prospects. 
The  work  Avas  not  suffered  to  decline,  however,  and  at  a 
meeting  of  the  trustees,  in  June,  Brother  J.  H.  Brumbaugh 
was  elected  Principal.  At  the  same  time  Brother  Quinter 
was  elected  President,  which  position  he  held  until  his  death. 
His  interest  in  the  work  was  deep  and  in  all  his  associations 
with  the  school  his  influence  was  a  power  for  good.  To  see 
the  students  ready  to  follow  the  Master  and  accept  His 
teachings  as  the  guide  of  their  lives  was  to  him  a  cause  of 
deepest  joy — for  then  he  felt  that  the  work  of  the  school 
had  accomplished  its  highest  purpose.  In  his  disposition, 
ever  kind  and  gentle,  he  was^particularly  so  with  the  "  lambs 
of  the  flock."  He  was  patient,  forgiving,  ready  to  teach 
and  to  lead  them  in  the  way  of  life. 

He  held  a  number  of  debates  upon  the  doctrines  of  the 
Church.  Although  he  did  not  greatly  enjoy  this  work,  yet 
when  urged  to  defend  the  truth  as  he  believed  it  to  be 
taught  in  the  Gospel,  he  was  always  ready  to  do  so.  He  had 
made  a  careful  and  thorough  study  of  all  the  phases  of 
Christian  doctrine,  and  once  having  settled  his  convictions 
no  man  held  them  more  firmly  or  was  more  ready  to  give  a 
reason  for  the  hope  that  was  in  him. 

Of  a  discussion  held  in  Somerset  count}',  Pa.,  the  only 
account  to  be  found  is  the  following,  written  in  November, 
1881,  on  the  occasion  of  a  visit  to  the  Summit  congregation  : 
''To  some  of  us  this  large  meeting-house  possessed  an  inter- 
estf  as  )^being  the  place  in  which  we  held  a  debate  about 
tweci€y-<five  years  ago  with  a  Mr.  Knepper,  a  minister  of  the 
Gerraati  Keformed  Church.  We  had  made  an  agreement 
together  to  discuss  the  action,  and  the  proper  subjects  of 
Christian  baptism.  We  discussed  the  first  proposition  pretty 
thoroughly,  but  when  that  was  finished  Mr.  Knepper 
declined  to  take  up  the   second.     The    debate  passed   off" 


ELDER   JAMES    QtFINTER.  45 

pleasantly,  and  apparently  to  the  advantage  of  the  brethren 
who  called  us  to  the  discussion  with  Mr.  Knepper." 

In  September,  1866,  he  held  a  discussion  with  a  minister 
of  the  Disciple  Church,  Elder  Wilkes,  in  Macoupin  county, 
111,  In  this  discussion  the  following  propositions  were 
affirmed  by  Brother  Quinter: 

I.  The  Holy  Scriptures  teach  that  trine  immersion  is 
valid  baptism. 

II.  Feet-washing  is  a  church  ordinance. 

III.  The  Salutation  of  the  Holy  Kiss  is  a  church  ordi- 
nance. 

On  the  7th  and  8th  of  August,  1867,  he  held  a  discussion 
in  Elkhart  county,  Indiana,  with  a  minister  of  the  Lutheran 
Church,  Eev.  Hugh  Wells.  In  this  discussion  the  following 
proposition  was  affirmed  by  Mr.  Wells,  and  denied  by  Brother 
Quinter:  Christian  baptism  may  he  performed  hy  sprinkling 
or  pouring. 

On  the  21st  and  22d  of  the  same  month  he  held  another 
discussion  in  Carroll  county,  Indiana,  with  a  Lutheran  min- 
ister also,  Rev.  P.  S.  Snyder.  The  following  proposition 
was  affirmed  by  Brother  Quinter:  Is  immersion  the  mode  of 
Christian  haiMsin  authorized  and  approved  hy  the  Bihlef 
This  discussion  was  published  in  book-form  in  1868,  by  a 
joint  committee  from  the  Churches  represented. 

In  October,  1867,  a  discussion  was  held  in  Linn  countv, 
Iowa,  with  Rev.  McConnell,  a  Disciple  minister.  The  fol- 
lowing propositions  were  discussed: 

I.  Trine  immersion  is  essential  to  Christian  baptism. 
Affirmed  by  Brother  Quinter,  denied  by  Rev.  McConnell. 

II.  The  Bread  and  Wine  commanded  to  be  taken  by  the 
disciples  of  Christ,  in  remembrance  of  Him,  are  the  Lord's 
Supper.  Affirmed  by  Rev.  McConnell ;  denied  by  Brother 
Quinter. 

III.  The  Washing  of  Feet  is  an  ordinance  established 


46  A   SKETCH  OP  THE   LIFE   OP 

by  Jesus  Christ,  and  by  Him  commanded  to  be  observed  by 
all  the  saints,  in  the  public  assembly  of  His  Church,  until  His 
coming.  Affirmed  by  Brother  Quinter,  denied  by  Rev. 
McConnell.  This  discussion  was  also  published  in  book- 
form  in  1868,  by  a  joint  committee  from  the  Churches  repre- 
sented. 

In  June,  1868,  he  held  a  discussion  with  a  minister  of  the 
Disciple  Church,  in  Cumberland  county,  Pa.  In  this  discus- 
sion these  propositions  were  affirmed  by  Brother  Quinter 
and  denied  by  Rev.  I.  C.  Mitchell : 

I.  Trine  Immersion  is  neccessary  to  carry  out  the  great 
Commission. 

II.  The  Washing  of  Feet  is  an  ordinance  commanded 
by  Christ  to  be  publicly  observed  until  He  comes. 

In  September,  1869,  he  held  a  discussion  in  Miami  county, 
Ohio,  with  Elder  McKinney,  of  the  Christian  Church,  upon 
the  subject  of  Freemasonry.  This  proposition  was  affirmed 
by  Brother  Quinter:  The  Principles  of  Freemasonry  are 
Inconsistent  with  the  Principles  of  Christian  Truth. 

He  entered  upon  this  work  only  at  the  urgent  and  repeated 
calls  of  his  brethren ;  but,  having  once  undertaken  to  defend 
the  doctrines  and  principles  he  professed,  he  proved  con- 
clusively that  sound  scriptural  truth  formed  the  basis  of 
these  doctrines. 

In  1867  he  completed  his  compilation  of  a  hymn  book  for 
the  church.  To  this  work  he  brought  all  the  strength  of  his 
devotional  nature,  and  it  is  a  constant  memento  of  his  deep 
religious  feeling. 

His  own  preface  is  the  best  description  of  the  work : 
"  Singing  the  praises  of  God  may  justly  be  regarded  as  an 
important  part  of  the  worship  we  offer  to  him,  and  it  was 
enjoined  by  divine  authority  upon  both  Jews  and  Christians. 
The  relation  that  the  Hymn  Book  stands  in  to  singing  in 
the  Church,  is  such,  that   gives   it   a  place  next  in  import- 


ELDWR  JAMES   QDINTER.  47 

ance  to  the  Bible,  among  Christians,  And  as  the  Hymn 
Book  is  an  important  auxiliary  in  promotmg-  Christian  wor- 
ship and  edification,  the  propriety  of  having  one  scriptural 
in  its  character,  convenient  in  its  arrangement,  and  varied 
and  full  in  the  hymns  it  contains,  will  be  apparent  to  all.  It 
has  been  the  object  of  the  compiler  to  make  such  a  book. 
How  far  he  has  succeeded,  those  who  make  themselves 
acquainted  with  it,  can  best  judge. 

There  has  existed  an  impression  among  us  for  years,  that 
our  Hymn  Book  should  be  revised  and  improved ;  and  this 
impression  has  grown  with  the  growth  of  the  Brotherhood. 
To  meet  the  want  of  the  Church  in  this  respect,  the  annual 
meeting  held  in  Tennessee,  in  1861,  appointed  a  committee 
to  compile  a  new  Hymn  Book.  That  committee  consisted 
of  the  following  brethren  :  James  Quinter,  of  Ohio ;  Samuel 
Garver,  of  Illinois ;  John  Metzger,  of  Indiana ;  John  Kline, 
of  Virginia,  and  John  H,  Urastad,  of  Pennsylvania.  But 
the  members  of  the  committee,  living  so  far  from  each  other, 
found  it  very  inconvenient  to  co-operate  together  to  accom- 
plish the  work  committed  to  them,  and  confided  it  to  the 
undersigned.  "We  felt  the  responsibility  great  when  we 
commenced  the  work,  but  had  we  anticipated  that  responsi- 
bility as  we  afterward  felt  it,  and  the  difficulties  attending 
the  undertaking,  we  would  have  declined  it,  could  it  have 
been  done  in  accordance  with  a  sense  of  duty.  It  has  given 
us  a  considerable  amount  of  perplexing  labor.  But  the 
thought  that  in  our  humble  labors  we  were  serving  the 
Church,  and  through  it  the  glorious  Head  of  the  Church,  our 
Heavenly  Master  mingled  some  pleasure  with  our  anxiety. 
The  compiler  regrets  that  remoteness  of  residence  did  not  per- 
mit the  other  members  of  the  committee  to  render  more  assist- 
ance in  the  important  work,  thinking  that  could  their  expe- 
rience and  judgment  have  been  brought  to  bear  upon  it,  greater 
satisfaction  might  have  been  given  to  the  Brotherhood.    But 


48  A    SKETCH    OF   THE    LIFE    OF 

he  assures  his  brethren  that  he  has  spared  no  labor,  or  pains, 
or  expense  that  his  circumstances  made  available,  to  compile 
a  Hymn  Book  that  in  his  humble  judgment  would  best  meet 
the  wants  of  the  Church.  In  collecting  materials  for  the 
work,  his  library  of  works  on  Hymnology  grew  to  nearly 
one  hundred  volumes.  The  most  of  these  afforded  some 
hymns.  The  books,  however,  hitherto  in  use  among  the 
brethren,  have  formed  the  basis  of  the  new  book,  and  a  large 
proportion  of  the  hymns  in  those  books  has  been  retained. 
The  compiler  is  aware  that  upon  the  idea  as  to  the  number  of 
hymns  aH3aTin  Book  should  contain,  a  difference  of  opinion 
obtains.  Some,  in  looking  at  a  Hymn  Book,  as  being  designed 
especially  for  public  worship,  and  finding  that  the  number 
of  hymns  used  on  occasions  of  that  kind  is  somewhat  lim- 
ited, think  a  large  number  of  hymns  is  objectionable.  But 
when  it  is  remembered  that  the  Bible  and  Hymn  Book  con- 
stitute the  library  of  some  Christians  /  tKat  the  latter  is  the 
only  book  of  sacred  poetry  they  possess  /  that  it  is  not  only 
used  as  a  book  to  sing  from,  but  is  also  read  and  studied 
with  p)lecisure  and  jyToiit,  the  propriety  of  having  some  hymns 
beside  those  that  are  popular  in  the  congregation,  will  be 
acknowledged.  Some  Christians  who  sing  but  little,  and 
indeed  so7ne^  who  sing  none  at  all,  enjoy  themselves  very 
much  in  reading  their  Hymn  Book,  and  regard  it  as  an 
excellent  companion  in  retirement  H\anns  are  lyrical  dis- 
courses generally  addressed  to  the  feelings ;  and  though 
usually  used  to  express  feelings,  they  may  also  produce 
them,  and  this  may  be  done  by  reading  them  as  well  as  by 
singing  them,  though  not  in  the  same  degree.  The  Hymn 
Book  now  offered  to  the  Brothernood  is  in  size,  a  medium 
between  the  two  prevailing  extremes. 

Had  the  compiler  consulted  his  own  taste  alone,  there 
would  have  been  hymns  inserted  which  have  been  omitted, 
and   some   omitted   which  have    been   inserted.      He  has 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTER.  49 

tried  to  keep  before  his  mind  the  consideration  that  he  was 
compiling  a  Hymn  Book  for  the  use  of  the  Brotherhood  and 
not  for  a  few  individuals  only. 

The  doctrinal  character  of  the  hymns  has  not  been  dis- 
regarded, and  it  is  hoped  that  nothing  will  be  found  in  the 
book  that  will  materially  conflict  with  the  teachings  of  the 
Gospel. 

In  the  arrangement  of  the  hymns,  those  of  the  same  gen- 
'eral  character  are  brought  together.  This  is  more  natural 
and  more  convenient  than  the  arrangement  that  is  founded 
upon  the  letters  of  the  alphabet  with  which  they  commence. 
And  a  proper  acquaintance  with  the  arrangement  adopted, 
and  the  help  of  the  Alphabetical  Index  of  Subjects,  an 3^  one 
wishing  to  select  a  hymn  adapted  to  any  occasion,  can  read- 
ily do  so.  The  Scriptural  Index  will  also  be  found  useful  in 
selecting  hymns. 

The  compiler  thankfully  acknowledges  the  suggestions, 
counsel,  and  selections  with  which  he  has  been  favored  by 
the  brethren,  and  though,  as  he  is  w^ell  aware,  his  work  is 
not  perfect,  he  hopes  it  will  give  general  satisfaction  to  the 
Brotherhood.  As  the  result  of  much  anxious  and  prayerful 
labor,  it  now  goes  to  the  churches  with  his  prayer  to  God 
that  he  may  bless  it,  and  make  it  minister  to  the  promotion 
of  the  spirit  of  Christian  devotion  in  all  the  departments  of 
worship,  and  thereby  exert  a  holy  influence  upon  the 
churches,  and  through  them  upon  the  world,  and  thus  con- 
tribute in  some  degree  to  advance  the  cause  and  kingdom  of 
Christ.  JAMES  QUINTER. 

Covington,  Miami  Co.,  O.,  March  28,  18(57." 
In  1886  he  published  his  w^ork  on  Trine  Immersion.  This 
work  is  a  careful  compilation  of  all  the  evidence — both  Srcipt- 
ural  and  historical — in  favor  of  what  he  believed  to  be  the 
only  Gospel  baptism.  He  was  early  in  his  life  impressed 
with  the  necessity  for  a  work  of  the  kind  and  during  the 


50  A   SKETCH    OF   THE   LIFE   OF 

first  years  of  his  ministry  he  began  to  collect  material  for 
it  and  to  make  it  a  subject  of  special  study  and  investigation. 
When  asked  how  long  he  had  been  preparing  forand  writing 
his  work,  he  replied:  "My  lifetime." 

He  was  ordained  to  the  eldership  in  ihe  summer  of  1856, 
in  the  Mahoning  Church,  Ohio,  by  Elds.  Henry  Kurtz  and 
Joseph  Showalter.  His  manifest  wisdom  and  prudent  dis- 
position, his  strong  affection  for  the  Church  and  his  deep 
concern  for  her  welfare  soon  brought  him  into  prominence' 
among  the  leaders  in  the  Church  councils.  Eld.  H.  B.  Brum- 
baugh has  given  the  following:  "In  the  annual  conferences 
of  the  Church  he  always  felt  a  deep  interest,  and  generally 
took  an  active  part  in  all  its  deliberations.  When  he  felt  it 
his  duty  to  take  a  position  he  did  it  with  great  zeal  and  pos- 
itiveness  ;  but,  if  the  final  decision  was  made  against  his 
views,  he  submitted  with  Christian  meekness,  feeling  that  he 
had  done  his  duty  in  advocating  that  which  his  own  con- 
science dictated  as  being  right.  A  submissive  spirit  Avas 
one  of  the  remarkable  traits  of  his  character." 

"  In  these  meetings,  he,  at  different  times,  filled  all  the 
prominent  positions  and  was  for  many  years  the  writing 
clerk  of  both  the  standing  committee  and  the  conference 
sessions." 

"  On  committees  he  had  more  calls  than  any  other  elder 
in  the  Church.  To  this  work  he  seemed  to  be  especially 
adapted,  and  when  it  was  possible  to  do  so,  he  seldom  failed 
to  have  difficulties  satisfactorily  adjusted.  His  appeals  to 
the  erring  members  were  so  strong  and  imbued  with  so 
much  Christian  tenderness  that  few  could  withstand  them. 
Though  he  was  unyielding  in  his  convictions  of  right,  his 
svmpathies  were  so  easily  touched,  that,  if  err  he  did,  it  was 
always  on  the  side  of  mercy.  No  man  ever  felt  more  deeply 
than  he  that,  '  To  err  is  human  ;  to  forgive,  divine.'  " 

Upon  the  death  of  his  mother  in  1881,  he  thus  writes : 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTEK.  51 

"  We  received  a  telegram  informing  us  of  the  illness  of  our 
mother.  We  hastened  to  her  home  in  Mount  Union,  Ohio; 
but  she  died  before  we  reached  it.  She  died  on  the  evening 
of  the  seventh  of  November.  Her  death  was  caused  by  no 
particular  disease.  Her  constitution  broke  down  under  the 
infirmities  of  age.  There  was  no  written  record  of  her  age, 
but,  according  to  her  own  statement,  confirmed  by  several 
circumstantial  testimonies,  she  was,  at  the  time  of  her  death, 
in  her  ninety -eighth  year." 

*'  She  possessed  a  remarkably  good  constitution,  was 
never  much  afflicted,  and  remained  very  active  until  about 
two  years  before  her  death,  when  she  got  a  fall  from  which 
she  never  afterward  recovered.  She  retained  her  senses 
and  her  mental  faculties  to  the  last.  She  was  a  member  of 
our  fraternity  for  nearly  fifty  years.  She  connected  her- 
self with  the  Church  soon  after  we  did.  And  she  was  a 
widow  over  fifty  years.  She  was  a  kind  and  loving  mother 
to  her  children.  And  among  the  many  blessings  we  feel 
we  are  indebted  to  her  for,  under  God,  is  a  good  constitu- 
tion. Living  to  the  age  she  did,  she  experienced  a  consider- 
able share  of  the  troubles  of  life.  But  her  religion  sus- 
tained her,  and  afforded  her  much  comfort.  The  evidences 
she  has  left  us  of  her  faithfulness  to  God  afford  us  much 
comfort.  One  of  the  earliest  things  we  remember  of  our 
dear  mother  is  that  of  seeing  her  on  her  knees  at  prayer. 
This  was  before  either  she  or  we  made  a  profession  of  religion. 
And,  though  we  preceded  her  in  making  the  good  confession, 
her  prayers  may  have  helped  in  bringing  us  to  the  Lord. 
As  her  end  approached,  and  her  infirmities  multiplied,  she 
became  anxious  to  depart  and  expressed  herself  happy  in 
the  prospect  of  death." 

"  The  religious  services  were  performed  by  Brother  J.  A. 
Clement,  assisted  by  Brother  L.  Glass,  of  the  Georgetown 
congregation.  She  was  buried  in  the  Brethren's  graveyard, 
at  Freeburg." 


52  A   SKETCH    OF   THE   LIFE   OF 

"  Our  sister  performed  her  part  faithfully  in  taking  care 
of  mother,  and,  having  been  so  long  with  her,  and  under 
many  trying  circumstances,  the  attachment  to  each  other 
was  unusually  strong,  and  the  separation  was  very  sorrowful 
to  sister." 

"How  full  of  comfort  is  the  thought  that,  though  a  separa- 
tion must  take  place,  that  separation  is  only  for  a  time,  and 
that  Christian  friends  will  meet  again,  and  meet  too,  where 
their  affections  will  be  forever  united,  and  where  death  and 
adversity  w^ill  afflict  them  no  more  nor  disturb  their  heavenly 
felicity.  Such  was  our  comfort  when  we  looked  for  the 
last  time  upon  our  aged  and  Christian  mother,  and  we 
thank  God  for  such  a  never-failing  source  of  comfort.  We 
felt  our  blessed  Christianity  to  be  more  precious  than  ever 
in  the  hour  of  affliction." 

On  the  death  of  Brother  Thomas  Major,  in  April,  1888,  he 
thus  writes:  "Brother  Major  and  ourself  entered  the  minis- 
try about  the  same  time,  and  we  were  together  considerably 
in  the  early  years  of  our  ministry.  A  warm,  brotherly  feel- 
ing existed  between  us  from  our  first  acquaintance  as  Chris- 
tian brethren.  When  we  moved  to  New  Yienna,  Ohio,  and 
started  our  school  there,  we  were  in  the  Fall  Creek  Church 
with  him  and  our  associations  there  were  very  pleasant,  after 

a  separation  from  one  another  for  some  years 

In  the  death  of  Brother  Major,  there  is  another  of  our  aged 
brethren  taken  from  us.  This  class  of  brethren  is  passing 
away  and  there  is  a  sadness  felt  by  us  when  they  leave  us. 
But  there  is  comfort,  too,  connected  with  the  idea  of  their- 
departure.  '  They  rest  from  their  labors.'  They  meet  one 
another  beyond  the  river  on  the  celestial  shore.  Blessed 
spirits!  your  brethren  in  the  flesh  are  coming  to  join  your 
happy  band."  How  soon  were  these  words  fulfilled  in  his 
own  life! 

His  educational  interest  grew  out  of  his  deep  concern  for 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTER.  53 

the  welfare  of  the  Church  and  his  desire  to  see  the  youth  of 
the  Church,  the  ardent  defenders  of  pure  Gospel  Christianity. 
His  editorial  work  was  accepted  as  affording  him  broader 
opportunities  for  Christian  usefulness.  But  his  deepest  inter- 
est was  reserved  for  his  public  ministry.  He  felt  that  this 
was  his  life-work  and  he  loved  it.  He  remarked  at  one  time 
toward  the  close  of  his  life  that  he  did  not  enjoy  a  Sabbath 
spent  without  preaching,  as  he  did  not  feel  that  he  had  ful- 
filled his  work.  Karely,  if  ever,  was  a  Sabbath  so  spent.  In 
his  preaching  he  was  instructive  and  impressive.  He  was  a 
man  of  intense  convictions  and  what  he  strongly  felt  he  ex- 
pressed forcibly.  Although  he  was  a  man  of  strong  sym- 
pathies and  deep  emotional  feeling,  yet,  the  chief  power  in 
his  preaching  was  in  his  Scriptural  reasoning.  His  sermons 
were  addressed  to  the  intelligence.  Conversion  to  him  meant 
more  than  a  change  of  feeling — it  was  a  change  of  mind  and 
judgment  followed  by  a  change  of  life  and  conduct.  He  was 
careful  and  thorough  in  the  preparation  of  his  sermons,  and, 
though  at  times  he  used  notes,  he  generalh'  preached  without 
them.  His  sermons  were  thoroughly  systematized  and 
elaborated.  He  was  a  life-long  student  and  the  Book  of 
books  was  the  subject  of  his  most  earnest  study. 

As  all  his  writings  gave  evidence  of  careful  study  and 
reflection,  his  opinion  and  advice  on  questions  of  Church  doc- 
trine and  Scriptural  exposition  were  often  sought.  His 
replies  to  these  requests  formed  a  considerable  portion  of  his 
editorial  work.  As  a  writer  he  was  characterized  as  "  mild, 
gentle  and  instructive."  All  his  writings  breathe  the  spirit 
of  pure  Christian  love.  His  letters  were  precious  messages 
from  a  heart  filled  with  tenderest  affection  and  deepest  sym- 
pathy. 

He  had  collected  a  library  of  about  1,300  volumes,  con- 
sisting almost  entirely  of  theological  works.  In  his  boy- 
hood he  conceived  the  desire  to  possess  a  library,  and  he  has 


54  A    SKETCH    OF   THE    LIFE    OF 

said  that  many  times  he  deprived  himself  of  a  meal  to  save 
a  few  pennies  to  purchase  a  coveted  volume.  His  early  call 
to  the  ministry  led  to  his  selection  of  his  library.  His  books 
were  collected  for  personal  use  and  study  and  are  all  works 
of  interest.  Except  wlien  his  ministry  called  him  elsewhere, 
he  spent  his  time  among  his  books  in  study  and  meditation. 
Here  he  did  his  writing,  and  here  he  prepared  his  sermons. 
His  highest  enjoyment  was  found  in  the  hours  so  spent.  The 
result  of  his  thought  and  study,  whether  it  developed  new 
truths  or  emphasized  principles,  was  always  utihzed  in  his 
writings  or  his  ministry.  His  work  was  all  directed  to  the 
help  of  his  fellow-men,  and  he  never  spared  himself  to  pro- 
mote the  cause  for  which  he  so  earnestly  labored.  He  spent 
much  time  during  his  ministry  traveling  and  preaching 
among  the  churches.  He  gave  his  labor  willingly  and  freely 
to  the  cause  he  loved  so  well,  and  fully  realized  in  his  life 
the  truth  of  the  promise,  ''  They  that  seek  the  Lord  shall  not 
want  any  good  thing."  He  never  took  a  tour  for  pleasure  ; 
his  traveling  was  for  the  good  of  the  Church.  There  are  few 
churches  in  the  Brotherhood  that  have  not  been  strengthened 
and  helped  by  his  influence.  He  loved  the  Church,  and 
earnestly  desired  that  peace,  brotherly  love  and  charity 
should  be  her  strong  characteristics.  His  love  of  peace  was 
a  marked  element  of  his  character,  and  nothing  gave  him 
deeper  grief  than  to  see  the  love  and  union  which  should 
exist  in  the  Church  broken  by  differences  and  dissensions. 
These  words  from  one  of  his  editorials  may  be  said  to  embody 
the  spirit  of  his  life:  "Let  us  cultivate  brotherly  kindness 
and  charity,  and  labor  in  harmony  to  promote  the  glory  of 
the  Lord,  the  peace  and  edification  of  the  Church,  and  the 
spiritual  improvement  of  the  world." 

His  life  was  eminently  a  prayerful  life.  His  habits  of 
prayer  and  devotion  formed  a  very  important  part  of  his 
daily  life.     Each  day  was  opened  with  a  season  of  private 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTER.  55 

devotion  at  his  bedside,  followed  by  Bible-reading  and 
prayer  with  his  familj^ ;  he  also  closed  the  day  with  prayer 
at  his  bedside.  His  prayers  with  his  family  have  left  a 
hallowed  memory.  Beside  these  fixed  times  he  spent  many 
hours  in  meditation  and  silent  communion.  In  a  letter  to 
Brother  C.  H.  Balsbaugh  he  expressed  himself  as  being  in 
more  profound  sympathy  with  the  absolute  ideal  of  Chris- 
tian character  than  he  had  the  power  to  express. 

He  was  a  strong  advocate  of  the  cause  of  abolition  in 
the  days  when  zeal  in  that  cause  was  often  the  price  of  sad 
experiences.  He  was  also  an  earnest  advocate  of  temper- 
ance, both  in  theory  and  practice.  His  habits  of  life  were 
exceedingly  simple,  and  he  generally  enjoyed  remarkably 
good  health. 

He  was  deeply  interested  in  the  mission  work  of  the 
Church,  and  for  a  number  of  years  was  Treasurer  of  the 
General  Mission  Board. 

As  a  man  he  was  modest  and  retiring  in  disposition, 
rather  reserved,  yet  universally  kind  and  courteous  in  his 
manner.  His  gentle,  courteous  manner  won  for  him  the 
respect  and  esteem  of  all  that  knew  him.  No  one  could 
come  in  contact  with  him  without  feeling  the  influence  of 
his  pure  Christian  character,  and  receiving  higher  views  of 
life.  His  humility,  his  sincerity,  and  the  purity  of  his  life 
drew  to  him  the  love  and  esteem  of  all.  "  A  well-known 
doctor  of  Huntingdon  once  said  :  '  Elder  Quinter  of  the 
Brethren  Church  is  the  purest  man  I  ever  saw.  His  very 
presence  is  an  inspiration.'  " 

In  all  the  churches  where  he  lived  and  labored,  the  per- 
sonal attachment  between  himself  and  his  people  was  a 
strong  bond  of  sympathy,  whose  severing  .was  alwaj'^s  pain- 
ful. Yet  it  Avas  always  evident  that  the  changes  of  his  life 
were  not  made  for  personal  gain  but  for  the  good  of  the 
Church. 


56  A    SKETCH    OF   THE    LIFE    OF 

During  the  fifty  years  of  his  ministry  he  rarely,  if 
ever,  missed  the  annual  Conference  of  the  Church.  He 
was  always  more  prayerful  and  thoughtful  during  his 
preparation  for  this  work.  He  felt  so  strongly  the  great 
responsibility  resting  upon  those  who  directed  the  work. 
He  made  his  customary  preparation  to  attend  the  Con- 
ference of  1888,  at  North  Manchester,  Ind.,  and  intended 
to  leave  home  on  Thursday,  May  ITth,  but  on  Wednesday 
morning  he  rose  very  unwell.  However,  nothing  serious 
seemed  to  be  threatened,  and  as  he  had  in  a  great  meas- 
ure recovered  on  Thursday,  he  decided  to  go  on  Friday. 
As  he  left  home  on  Friday  morning  it  was  with  the  hope 
that  he  might  return  benefited  from  his  journey.  The  fol- 
lowing account  is  quoted  from  Brother  D.  L.  Millers'  edi- 
torial in  the  Gospel  Messenger. 

"We  come  now  in  our  notes  to  describe  a  scene  of  pecu- 
liar and  touching  sadness,  one  that  time  will  not  soon  efface 
from  our  memory ;  an  occurence  that  has  cast  a  deep  gloom 
and  heart-felt  sorrow  over  the  entire  meeting.  We  refer  to 
the  death  of  our  dear  aged  brother,  Elder  James  Quinter. 
He  reached  the  meeting-grounds  about  noon  on  Saturday, 
and  greeted  a  number  of  those  he  loved  so  well,  for  all  who 
knew  him  loved  him,  and  this  general  feeling  of  love  and 
respect  shown  him  was  fully  reciprocated  in  his  great  sym- 
pathetic heart.  He  expressed  himself  as  not  feeling  so  well, 
and  it  was  generally  observed  that  he  did  not  seem  as  strong 
as  usual.  In  his  last  conversation  with  us  he  said  he  was 
glad  to  meet  the  Brethren  in  Annual  Conference  once  more." 
"At  3  p.  M.  Brother  Daniel  Yaniman  preached  in  the  Tab- 
ernacle, and  Brother  Quinter  left  the  Messenger  of^ce^  saying 
he  would  go  and  hear  the  sermon.  It  was  to  be  the  last  he 
would  hear  in  this  world.  He  closed  the  meeting,  using  the 
810th  hymn,  which  he  read  in  a  most  feeling  and  touching 
manner.     After  singing  the  hymn  he  spoke  a  few  fitting 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTER.  57 

words  upon  the  sermon  to  which  he  had  just  listened,  and 
then  Icneeling  in  prayer  he  thanked  God  that  he  was  once 
more  permitted  to  meet  with  those  of  like  precious  faith. 
It  was  noticed  by  those  near  him  that  his  voice  trembled, 
but  the  words  were  clear  and  coherent,  and  as  he  said,  "  We 
are  glad  to  meet  again,"  his  voice  ceased,  never  more  to  be 
heard  is  this  world.  Those  who  were  kneeling  by  his  side 
noticed  that  he  grew  very  pale.  Saving  arms  held  him  from 
falling  to  the  floor,  and  he  was  tenderly  and  gently  raised 
from  his  knees  and  laid  on  the  table.  He  gasped  a 
few  times,  and  then,  surrounded  by  a  weeping  congre- 
gation, his  spirit  took  its  homeward  flight.  And  so 
passed  away  one  of  our  great  and  good  men,  not 
great  as  the  world  counts  greatness,  but  great  in  all  the 
noble  qualities  of  true  Christian  manhood.  He  was  a  man 
of  strong  mental  power,  an  eloquent  preacher,  full  of  love" 
and  zeal  for  the  cause  of  the  Master.  His  courteous  manner, 
his  marked  piety,  his  honesty  and  integrity  of  purpose,  his 
great  love  for  the  Church,  of  which  he  was  an  honored 
member,  gained  for  him  the  love  and  reverence  of  all  who 
came  to  know  him.  He  filled  a  place  in  the  hearts  of  our 
people  second  to  no  one  in  our  Brotherhood,  His  life  was 
full  of  labor  for  the  Church  of  his  choice,  and  his  name  will 
long  be  held  in  sacred  memory  by  his  co-laborers  and  by  a 
great  Brotherhood  of  loving  hearts." 

"  The  manner  of  his  death  was  a  fitting  close  to  a  long  life 
spent  in  labor  for  the  good  of  humanity  and  for  the  Church 
he  loved  so  well.  He  came  up  to  the  Conference,  as  he  had 
done  so  many  times  before,  to  labor  for  the  Church,  and  was 
to  have  preached  in  the  Tabernacle  on  Sunday  morning. 
Kneeling  with  the  great  congregation  in  prayer,  surrounded 
by  his  co-laborers  and  those  he  loved  as  brethren  and  sisters 
in  Christ,  amid  the  tears  and  heart-felt  grief  of  those  who 
loved  and  reverenced  him  as  a  father  in  Israel,  his  pure  spirit 


58  A    SKETCH    OF    THE    LIFE    OF 

took  its  flight  to  the  Land  of  Rest.  "  We  are  glad  to  meet 
again,"  were  his  last  words,  and  as  he  uttered  them  his  voice 
was  hushed  in  death.  Were  these  words  spoken  of  us,  or  were 
they  spoken  to  those  on  the  other  shore  who  were  watching 
and  waiting  for  the  coming  of  our  dear  brother?  God  only 
knows.  As  death  came  to  him  on  his  knees  in  earnest 
prayer,  with  his  face  turned  Zionward,  he  may  have  had  a 
glimpse  of  the  host  be3'^ond  the  river,  and  his  last  words  on 
earth  may  have  been  his  first  greeting  on  the  other  shore." 

"  After  it  was  known  that  Brother  Quinterwas  dead,  the 
Standing  Committee  adjourned  its  session  and  proceeded  in 
a  body  to  the  Tabernacle,  where  his  body  was  lying.  Brother 
Enoch  Eby  made  a  few  appropriate  and  touching  remarks  to 
the  weeping  congregation.  A  prayer  was  then  offered  and 
the  remains  were  taken  away  and  prepared  to  be  taken  to 
his  former  home  in  Huntingdon,  Pa." 

"For  some  years  we  have  been  very  closely  connected  in 
our  work.  In  all  his  advice  and  counsel  to  us  his  chief  con- 
cern was  for  the  good  of  the  Church.  In  our  private  cor- 
respondence this  one  feature  marked  all  his  letters,  showing 
how  near  to  his  heart  was  the  prosperity  of  the  Church.  In 
our  last  conversation,  an  hour  before  his  death,  he  expressed 
an  earnest  desire  that  the  best  interest  of  the  cause  might 
be  promoted  at  this  meeting.  His  life  has  been  a  blessing  to 
the  Church  and  a  benediction  to  humanity.  May  we  who 
are  left  behind  labor,  as  did  our  dear  brother,  for  the  cause* 
for  which  he  fell  with  his  armor  on." 

Such  was  a  life  whose  energies  were  consecrated  to  a 
holy  work,  whose  years  were  filled  with  arduous  toil.  Truly 
he  lived  in  the  spirit  of  these  words  taken  from  one  of  his 
letters  :  "  We  enjoy  rest  the  more  if  our  work  has  been 
arduous,  and  we  have  become  weary  in  performing  it. 
Where  there  is  no  labor  and  life  is  all  rest,  or  rather  idleness, 
there  is  no  real  rest.    And  so  it  is  in  regard  to  our  Christian 


ELDER  JAMES   QUINTER.  59 

work.  If  there  is  no  true  Christian  work  there  can  be  no 
true  Christian  labor.  And  the  more  we  labor,  and  the  more 
weary  we  become  with  the  work  we  are  engaged  in,  and  with 
the  caresand  perplexities  of  life,  the  more  sweet  and  enjoya- 
ble will  our  heavenly  rest  be.  Our  reward  in  the  coming 
age  will  not  only  be  according  to  our  works  but  also  to  some 
degree  to  the  suffering  we  shall  have  endured  in  performing 
our  work."  Thus  has  ended  his  life  ;  but,  though  dead,  "  he 
yet  speaketh,"  and  the  memory  of  his  holy  life  is  a  sacred 
inheritance  to  all  who  shall  come  after  him. 

''  His  work  in  the  Church  militant  has  ceased  and  his 
work  in  the  Church  triumphant  begun.  He  was  not  for  God 
took  him." 

"  Like  the  morning  stag's,  his  spirit's  course  was  steadily 
upward,  still  glowing  with  its  own  peculiar  effulgence,  till 
lost  in  the  glories  of  the  opening  day.  In  the  fullness  of  his 
activities,  with  body,  mind  and  heart  all  occupied  in  the 
Lord's  work,  without  protracted  sickness,  feebleness,  or  suf- 
fering, he  laid  him  down  to  die.  The  Master  said:  'It  is 
enough'  and  he  passed  at  once  from  labor  to  recompense." 

"  God's  finger  touched  him  and  he  slept,"  yet  around  this 
sleep  shines  as  a  halo  the  brightest  star  in  Christianity's 
diadem — the  hope  of  the  resurrection  and  the  joys  of  the 
hereafter. 


MEMORIAL    SKETCHES. 


OUR  LOSS. 

There  are  losses  that  we  can  feel,  but  can  not  describe. 
Such  is  the  character  of  the  loss  which  we  have  sustained  in 
the  sudden  and  unexpected  death  of  our  much  esteemed  elder, 
James  Quinter.  Our  knowledge  of  him  as  a  man,  our  asso- 
ciation with  him  in  business,  and  especially  our  relation  witli^ 
him  in  the  Church,  demands  from  us  a  tribute  which  we  do 
not  have  words  to  express. 

Of  Brother  Quinter's  moral  and  religious  character  we 
have  had  some  knowledge  for  a  number  of  years,  and  it  was 
on  account  of  the  very  favorabl^opinion  we  formed  of  him 
that  led  to  our  business  relations  with  him.  While  we,  as  pub- 
lishers of  Church  literature,  were  endeavoring  to  labor  for 
the  promotion  of  the  cause  that  was  always  dear  to  us,  we 
felt  that  an  association  with  him  would  add  greatly  to  our 
possibilities  for  accomplishing  good ;  and  to  this  end  we 
strongly  favored  the  consolidation  of  our  papers,  as  we  were 
then  publishing  them,  the  Pilgrim  and  the  Primitive  Chris- 
tian. This  consolidation  was  affected  in  the  fall  of  1876, 
and  on  October  31st  of  the  same  year  he,  with  his  family, 
moved  to  this  place. 

At  the  time  he  came  among  us  we  had  already  succeeded 
in  gathering  a  small  band  of  members,  and  had  prepared  a 
chapel  for  worship  in  a  room  on  the  first  floor  of  the  build- 
ing in  which  the  Pilgrim  had  been  printed,  and  in  which  the 
consolidated  paper  continued  to  be  printed.  The  Normal 
School,  founded  by  Brother  J.  M.  Zook  and  some  friends  of 
education,  was  also  commenced  in  this  same  building  and 
rooms,  in  the  spring  prior  to  his  coming  in  the  fall.  This 
we  name  because  we  feel  that  it  had  something  to  do  in  his 
making  this  place  his  home,  as  he  always  was  a  friend  of 

60 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTER.  61 

education,  and  was  interested  in  having  schools  founded 
where  the  brethren's  children  might  be  educated  without 
being  surrounded  with  influences  antagonistic  to  the  humble 
principles  of  the  Truth  and  the  Church. 

To  both  the  Church  and  the  school  his  being  with  us 
proved  a  great  blessing,  as  he  was,  in  many  ways,  a  father 
to  both,  and  by  each  the  loss  is  equally  felt.  In  almost  the 
beginning  of  the  school  he  was  elected  president,  and  though 
he  was  not. directly  connected  with  it  as  a  member  of  the 
faculty,  yet  the  influence  he  exerted  over  it  was  a  power  for 
good.  This  influence  was  given  in  his  presence  at  the  morn- 
ing religious  exercises,  in  the  joint  meetings  of  the  faculty 
and  trustees,  in  trustee  meetings,  the  prayer  meetings,  and 
in  his  public  ministrations  from  the  rostrum.  Indeed,  wher- 
ever and  whenever  he  came  in  contact  with  either  teachers 
or  students,  he  was  a  living  model  of  uprightness  and  Chris- 
tian propriety,  and  there  are  hundreds  to-day  who  will  gladly 
stand  up  and  testify  that  their  lives  have  been  made  better 
to  the  extent  of  their  association  with  this  goodly  man.  It 
was  impossible  for  any  one  to  be  under  his  influence  with- 
out receiving  higher  views  of  life.  His  words  of  counsel 
were  always  given  in  a  most  kind  spirit,  and  seldom  failed  to 
impress  the  person  addressed  that  they  were  unselfish  and 
intended  for  their  good.  Although  firm  in  his  convictions 
of  right,  he  was  a  Christ  in  his  readiness  to  forgive  on  the 
least  appearance  of  repentance  on  the  part  of  the  offender, 
no  matter  how  grave  the  offense.  As  a  disciplinarian,  he  was 
tender  and  forgiving,  almost  to  a  fault,  and  it  could  be  truly 
said  of  him  :  The  mistakes  he  made  in  such  cases  were  always 
on  the  side  of  mercy. 

In  the  Church  he  was  a  father,  and,  we  are  sorry  to  say, 
in  some  cases  to  ungrateful  and  unappreciative  children. 
How  earnest  was  the  preaching,  how  tender  the  exhorta- 
tions and  how  pathetic  were  the  appeals  that  he  made  to  his 


62  A   SKETCH    OF   THE    LIFE   OF 

children  in  Christ !  Often  were  we  made  to  weep  under 
them  and  wonder  how  hearts  less  hard  than  flint  could 
remain  untouched.  Although  he  was  a  man  having  sym- 
pathies easily  touched,  and  of  deep  emotional  feeling,  yet  he 
was  not  considered  an  emotional  preacher.  His  power  was 
in  sound  scriptural  reasoning.  He  reached  men  and  women 
through  their  intelligence  rather  than  through  their  emo- 
tional feelings;  and  conversion,  under  his  preaching,  meaSt 
more  than  a  simple  change  of  feeling, — it  was  a  change  of 
mind,  a  change  of  judgment,  to  be  followed  by  a  change  of 
life  and  actions.  Anything  short  of  this,  he  could  not  rec- 
ognize as  true  conversion.  There  are  but  few  Churches  in 
the  Brotherhood,  throughout  the  United  States,  but  what 
have  some  in  their  communion  whose  souls  have  been  thrilled 
by  his  eloquence  and  zeal  in  preaching  the  unsearchable 
riches  of  Christ.  In  a  letter  before  me,  a  brother  says : 
"  To  Brother  Quinter  I  owe  much,  if  not  all,  the  inspiration 
which  prompted  me  to  leave  the  service  of  sin  and  unite 
with  the  people  of  God.  He  will  never  be  forgotten  by  me  ; 
for,  though  I  am  but  a  weak  vessel  in  God's  service,  yet  I 
know  that  I  was  benefited  by  taking  the  steps  he  urged  me 
to  take."  Had  hundreds  of  others  the  opportunity,  they 
would  say  the  same  thing.  Surely  he  will  come  up  to  the 
throne  rejoicing,  bringing  his  sheaves  with  him. 

We  will  miss  him  not  only  on  the  chapel  rostrum,  but  in 
our  prayer  meetings  and  church  councils  there  will  be  a 
vacant  seat  and  an  ever- welcome  voice  unheard.  To  ourself 
and  Brother  Swigart  he  was  a  strong  post  against  whom  we 
leaned  with  great  assurance.  He  was  a  bishop,  indeed,  who 
loved  his  co-laborers  and  his  flock  as  only  a  truly  regener- 
ated and  Christian  heart  could  love.  He  ruled  as  a  loving 
father,  and  expected  in  return  the  respect  and  regard  that 
should  be  given  by  loving  children,  and  we  believe  that 
there  was  not  a  single  member  in  the  Church  that  did  not 
entertain  for  him  the  highest  esteem  and  respect. 


ELDER   JAMES   QUINTEE.  63 

During  his  residence  of  twelve  yea)-s  with  us,  our  asso- 
ciations as  ministers  were  most  pleasant.  Indeed,  they 
could  not  well  have  been  otherwise,  as,  with  his  great- 
ness as  a  Christian  and  a  minister,  he  was  as  meek 
and  as  humble  as  a  child.  With  him  it  was,  "  Not  my  will, 
but  thine  be  done."  Though  deserving  of  the  highest  posi- 
tions and  first  preferments,  he  was  always  willing  to  take 
the  loAvest.  We  do  not  say  this  in  a  spirit  of  flattery,  oras  a 
dead  eulogy,  because  we  always  said  the  same  thing  of  him 
while  he  was  yet  living,  and  we  said  it  because  we  felt  that 
he  was  worthy  of  all  the  esteem  and  respect  that  we  were 
able  to  give  him.  And  to-day  we  feel  that  w^e  have  sus- 
tained a  loss  such  as  we  never  felt  before. 

Though  he  had  passed  his  three-score  years  and  ten, 
little  did  we  realize  that  our  bereavement  was  so  near  at 
hand.  On  Wednesday  before  his  death  he  was  unwell,  and 
when  we  went  to  see  him  about  going  to  Annual  Meeting  he 
was  undecided,  so  much  that  he  instructed  Brother  Swigart, 
without  my  knowledge  of  it,  to  have  me,  on  Wednesday 
evening,  appointed  as  an  alternate  delegate,  should  he  not 
go.  He,  however,  got  considerably  better  by  Thursday 
morning,  and  when  we  called  at  his  house  before  starting 
he  said  that  he  would  start  on  Friday  morning,  if  his  health 
continued  to  improve.  And  it  was  with  feelings  of  more  than 
ordinary  joy  that  we  saw  him  coming  towards  our  office  on 
the  Annual  Meeting-grounds  on  Saturday  noon.  And  there 
were  many  others  that  were,  no  doubt,  as  glad  to  see 
him  as  we  were.  As  he  walked  towards  the  office  through 
the  grounds  we  heard,  in  every  direction,  brethren  and 
sisters  say,  "  There  comes  Brother  Quinter."  Yes,  he  was 
known  and  loved  by  all.  But  had  all  these  loving  brethren 
and  sisters  known  that  in  only  a  few  short  hours  Brother 
Quinter  would  take  his  final  leave  and  go  over  to  the  other 
side,  how  different  would  have  been  the  meetings  and  greet- 


64  A    SKETCH    OF   THE    LIFE    OF 

ings !  He  seemed  to  be  especially  anxious  to  attend  2 
o'clock  p.  M.  services.  He  said :  "  Brother  Vaniman  will 
preach  and  I  want  to  hear  him."  As  our  office  was  near 
enough  to  the  tent  to  enable  us  to  hear  the  preaching,  we 
remained  there  during  the  services  until  a  message  was  sent 
us  that  Brother  Quinter  had  fainted.  We  at  once  werr^  to 
his  side,  only  to  see  life  ebbing  out, — twice  he  gasped  for 
breath,  and  he  ceased  to  live. 

The  scene  of  his  death,  there  in  the  midst  of  the  loved 
and  the  loving,  we  shall  not  attempt  to  describe.  It  was 
sad — so  sad,  and  yet  glorious — so  glorious  !  It  was  a  death 
so  near  not  being  a  death,  that  it  seemed  befitting  to  say, 
"  Brother  Quinter  is  not  dead — God  has  taken  him." 

The  scene  of  his  death  we  shall  never  forget.  It  was  a 
congregation  of  weepers.  And  many  a  weeping  Mary 
pressed  forward  to  lay  her  hands  tenderly  on  his  face  and 
say,  "  How  blessed  such  a  death  !  How  glad  I  would  be 
thus  to  die  ! "  It  was  a  blessed  death — yes,  it  was.  Thus  to 
fall  asleep  in  Jesus  was  an  honor  that  the  Lord  was  pleased 
to  confer  upon  his  servant,  our  Brother  Quinter,  and  to  the 
decree  let  all  bleeding  hearts  say.  Amen. 

Preparations  for  the  removing  of  the  lifeless  body  to  his 
home  were  now  to  be  made,  and  the  sad  duty  fell  to  our 
lot,  self  and  brother.  He  died  at  4  o'clock,  and  by  9  o'clock 
we  had  the  body  removed  to  the  undertaker,  carefully 
examined,  placed  in  a  metallic  coffin,  and  put  on  the  cars, 
ready  to  start  for  home.  All  this  we  could  not  have  done 
had  not  duty  impelled  us,  and  the  sadness  of  the  work  did 
not  come  to  us  until  we  were  on  our  way  homeward.  How 
great  the  change !  We  went  to  the  meeting  with  light 
hearts,  rejoicing ;  we  returned  weeping,  bearing  with  us 
the  tenantless  body  of  the  one  whom  we  had  learned  to  so 
dearly  love  as  a  friend  and  Christian  father. 

Our  homeward  journey  was  such  an   one  as  we  never 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTER,  65 

before  experienced,  and  if  it  is  tiie  good  Lord's  will,  we  wish 
never  to  repeat.  The  scene  that  transpired  on  our  arrival 
we  shall  sacredly  cover  over  with  the  mantle  of  love' and 
sympathy.  It  was  a  case  for  angels  to  look  into,  and  for  the 
husband  of  widows  to  temper.  While  there  was  deep  grief 
there  was  also  heart-felt  sympathy  and  helping  hands  to 
administer,  as  the  needs  of  the  bereaved  and  stricken  family 
required. 

Preparations  for  the  funeral  were  made  for  Wednesday 
at  2:30  p.  m.  It  was  the  urgent  request  of  the  family  that 
we,  self  and  Brother  Swigart,  should  lead  in  the  services, — 
not  because  they  felt  that  we  could  do  it  better  than  our 
sur|:ounding  ministering  brethren,  but  because  of  our  inti- 
mate and  pleasant  associations  with  the  deceased,  and  the 
family,  believing  that  we,  on  this  account,  could  more  fully 
enter  into  their  feelings  of  loss  and  bereavement,  and  give  the 
sympathy  and  comfort  so  much  needed.  Both  of  us  felt 
much  more  like  taking  our  seats  with  the  mourners,  and  would 
gladly  have  done  so  had  not  duty  directed  otherwise.  Our 
hearts  were  greatly  comforted  to  see  the  large  number  of 
our  ministering  brethren  and  others,  who  came  to  mourn 
and  weep  with  us  in  our  time  of  bereavement  and  great  loss. 
The  funeral  was  very  largely  attended,  and  some  seven- 
teen ministers  present,  the  larger  part  of  whom  took  some 
part  in  the  exercises. 

H.  B.  Brumbaugh. 

Huntingdon,  Pa.,  June  5, 1888. 


FUNERAL  SERVICES  OF  Elder  JAMES  QUINTER 

Who  Died  in  the   Annual    Meeting  Tent  at  North   Manchester, 

Indiana,  While  on  his  Knees  in  Prayer,  on  the    T9th  of 

May,  1888,  and  was  Buried  from  his  Home  in 

Huntingdon,   Pa.,  on  the  23rd. 

At  the  request  of  the  friends  of  the  deceased  and  on 
account  of  the  relation  he  sustained  to  this  paper  and  the 
pubhshers,  we  here  give  a  somewhat  lengthy  account  of  the 
funeral,  with  the  sermons  preached,  as  nearly  as  they  could 
be  reproduced,  hoping  that  they  will  be  read  with  plea'^ure 
and  remembered  with  profit. 

FUNERAL   SERVICES. 

The  first  services  were  held  at  2  o'clock  p.  m.,  in  the  home 
of  the  deceased.  Part  of  the  5th  chapter  of  Second  Cor- 
inthians was  read  by  Eld.  J.  Z.  Replogle;  prayer  by  Eld. 
James  R.  Lane. 

From  here  the  body  was  taken  to  the  Norman  Chapel, 
where  the  services  were  opened  by  Eld.  J.  E.  Garber  read- 
ing the  598th  hymn  : 

"Asleep  in  Jesus!  blessed  sleep 
From  which  none  ever  wake  to  weep." 

Presiding  Elder  M.  K.  Foster,  of  the  M.  E.  Church,  read 
the  90th  Psalm  ;  prayer  by  Eld.  J.  W.  Wilt. 

The  following  sermon  was  then  preached  by  H.  B. 
Brumbaugh : 

HOPE   THROUGH   THE    RESURRECTION. 

' '  For  if  we  believe  that  Jesus  died  and  rose  again,  even  so  them  also 
which  sleep  in  Jesus  will  God  bring  with  him." — Thess.  4  :  14. 

Paul,  with  his  co-laborers,  Silvanus  and  Timotheus,  it  is 

thought,  had  labored  in  the  Gospel  for  a  considerable  time  in 

the  city  of  Thessalonica,  and  their  labors  were  attended  with 

encouraging  success,  so  that  a  large  Church  was  established. 


Elder  james  qdintek.  67 

After  having  thus  established  and  organized  the  Church  they 
went  to  other  fields  of  labor. 

During  their  absence  the  newly  established  Church  not 
only  met  with  persecution,  but  several  of  the  chief  men  among 
them  were  removed  by  death,  Paul,  hearing  of  their  afflic- 
tion, and  wishing  to  show  his  S3'mpathy  for  them  and  afford 
them  such  comfort  as  he  could  give,  wrote  them  several  let- 
ters. Part  of  the  second  of  these  letters  we  have  read  and 
use  as  a  text  on  the  present  sad  and  impressive  occasion. 

Death  has  always  had  its  terrors,  yet  surrounding  cir- 
cumstances may  greatly  modify  our  feelings  in  regard  to  it. 
To  throw  around  it  these  modifying  circumstances  was  the 
object  of  Paul  in  writing  his  letters  to  the  brethren.  And 
to  present  it  in  its  most  comforting  and  consoling  light,  he 
compares  it  to  a  sleep,  "Them  which  sleep  in  Jesus."  The 
figure  is  frequently  used  in  the  Scriptures.  The  martyr 
Stephen,  after  having  prayed  for  his  persecutors  and  com- 
mitted himself  to  God  in  whom  he  trusted,  it  is  said,  "  fell 
asleep."  The  Master,  speaking  of  the  death  of  Lazarus,  says, 
"  He  is  sleeping,  but  I  go  that  I  may  awake  him  out  of  sleep." 
Ever  since  then  the  mission  of  Christ  has  been  to  awaken 
out  of  sleep — to  awaken  sinners  out  of  the  sleep  of  sin, 
and  after  awhile  to  awaken  us  all  out  of  the  sleep  of  death. 

Paul  speaks  of  death  as  a  short  slumber  of  the  body, — 
the  body  to  sleep  in  the  dust,  while  the  spirit  returns  to  the 
paradise  of  God,  there  to  await  the  resurrection  of  the  body — 
when  the  trumpet  shall  sound  and  the  body  shall  come 
forth,  not  in  the  habiliments  of  mortality  and  corruption,  but 
to  be  fashioned  after  the  glorious  body  of  Christ.  He  has 
crowned  his  whole  letter  by  the  beautiful  and  inspired  utter- 
ance that  has  been  said  in  the  midst  of  the  weeping,  and 
in  tears,  so  often  in  the  house  of  the  bereaved  and  the 
mourning  ones:  "  For  if  we  helieve  that  Jesus  died  and  rose 
again,  even  so  them  also  which  sleep  in  Jesus  will  God  bring 
with  him." 


68  FUNERAL  SERVICES   OF 

This  morning,  as  the  daughter  stood  viewing  the  body 
of  her  dear,  departed  father,  slie  said :  "  It  seems  to  me  papa 
is  not  dead,  that  he  is  only  sleeping  ;  after  while  he  will  get 
awake."  How  true  w^ere  the  words !  and  beautifully  are 
demonstrated  the  truths  of  our  text  in  the  death  of  Father 
Quinter.  He  fell  asleep.  His  body,  as  we  see  it  lying  before 
us,  is  only  sleeping — awaiting  the  sound  of  the  trump,  when 
he  will  awaken  and  God  will  bring  him  with  him.  Asleep 
in  Jesus!  Oh,  how  comforting  the  words!  No  other  three 
words  are  so  often  seen  in  our  cemeteries  and  on  the  tomb- 
stones of  our  departed  ones. 

Death  is  only  a  temporary  suspension  of  bodily  activi- 
ties. The  body  falls  asleep  and  the  door  of  mortal  vision  is 
closed  and  the  spirit  ceases  to  live  in  the  earthly  tabernacle 
—it  awaits  for  the  redemption  of  the  body,  when  it  shall 
come  forth  in  its  immortal  and  glorified  form.  Paul  was 
filled  with  this  great  truth  when  he  said  he  was  willing  to 
be  absent  from  the  body  that  he  might  be  present  with  the 
Lord.  The  body  had  become  aged  and  decrepit.  In  it  he 
had  fought  a  good  fight.  On  it  were  the  marks  of  the  stripes 
and  scars  which  he  had  received  in  the  contests,  and  he  was 
now  willing  that  it  should  be  laid  away,  to  sleep,  that  it 
might  rest  and  in  God's  own  time  be  reinvigorated  and 
brought  forth  to  a  reunion  w^ith  the  spirit  for  an  enjoyment 
of  an  eternal  life.  "  For  they  that  sleep  in  Jesus  will  God 
bring  with  him." 

In  contemplating  the  death  of  our  loved  ones,  there  is  no 
truth  that  falls  so  consolingly  upon  our  hearts  as  the  resur- 
rection. In  this  truth  our  yearning  hearts  want  to  be  estab- 
lished— want  to  be  satisfied.  Believe  this  and  death  has 
lost  its  sting,  and  the  grave  its  victory.  And  if  we  believe 
that  Jesus  died  and  rose  again,  we  have  the  hope,  the  com- 
forting hope,  that  reaches  beyond  the  grave — "  Them  which 
sleep  in  Jesus  will  God  bring  with  him."     In  this  life  of 


ELDER   JAMES   QUINTER,  69 

labor,  of  trials,  disappointments,  afflictions  and  deaths,  we 
need  comfort  and  encouragement ;  something  to  enable  us 
to  endure  and  remain  faithful  until  death.  The  Scriptures 
are  filled  with  these  divine  assurances,  and  Paul  concludes 
the  chapter  with  these  very  encouraging  words:  "  Where- 
fore comfort  one  another  with  these  words."  There  is 
nothing  else  that  can  afford  so  much  comfort  to  you  who 
have  been  bereft  of  a  husband — of  a  father.  Only  a  few 
years  at  the  longest,  and  the  ties  that  through  death  have  been 
riven  will  be  again  united,  not  again  to  be  severed  by  the 
relentless  hand  of  death,  but  a  union  that  will  be  continued 
forever  in  the  paradise  of  God.  Then  be  comforted  in  this 
blessed  hope,  and  try  to  feel  that  what  the  Lord  hath  done 
is  well  done. 

A  few  words  in  regard  to  the  deceased.  Our  acquaint- 
ance with  Brother  Quinter  has  bfien  for  a  considerable  length 
of  time,  but  our  more  intimate  relations  date  from  the  time 
of  his  coming  among  us.  Early  in  his  youthful  days  he 
gave  his  heart  to  God,  and  from  that  time  forward  he  lived 
a  most  exemplary  life.  At  the  age  of  twenty-two  he  was 
elected  to  the  ministry,  since  then  he  has  been  an  able  and 
faithful  defender  of  the  Truth  and  always  loyal  to  the  Church 
of  hischoice.  Our  business  relations  together  have  been  most 
agreeable  and  satisfactory,  and  in  the  Church  he  has  not  only 
been  a  brother,  an  elder,  but  he  has  been  a  father  to  us  all, 
and  we  are  glad  to  say  that  his  humble  and  exemplary  life 
has  done  more  towards  building  us  up  and  establishing  us 
in  the  faith  than  any  other  living  man.  He  was  great  in 
goodness  and  a  child  in  humbleness,  and  we  yet  fail  to 
realize  the  loss  that  we  have  sustained,  or  that  Brother  Quinter 
is  really  dead.  "We  can  not  tell  how  glad  we  felt  on  last 
Satu-rday,  as  we  saw  him  come  towards  our  oflfice  on  the 
Convention  ground,  and  how  little  did  we  think  that  so  soon 
it  would  be  our  sad  lot  to  return  home,  bearing  with  us  the 
lifeless  body  of  one  that  was  so  dear  to  us ! 


70  FUNERAL    SERVICES    OF 

But  in  the  time  and  place  of  his  death  we  are  all  com- 
forted. It  was  God's  time,  and  the  choice  of  our  dear 
brother  and  elder,  at  the  Annual  Meeting  with  his  people, 
on  his  knees  pleading  with  God.  And  as  the  precious 
thought  loomed  up  in  his  soul,  and  he  said,  "  O  Lord,  I  thank 
thee  that  we  are  permitted  to  meet  again,"  the  Lord  said  it 
was  enough,  and  took  his  servant  home.  "  Even  so,  them 
also  which  sleep  in  Jesus  will  God  bring  with  him." 

REMARKS    BY   W.  J.  SWIGART. 

Many  are  the  Scriptural  texts  that  suggest  themselves 
on  an  occasion  such  as  the  present.  Were  I  to  base  my 
remarks  on  any  particular  text,  I  should  refer  you  to  the 
24th  verse  of  the  5th  chapter  of  Genesis:  "And  Enoch 
walked  with  God ;  and  he  was  not ;  for  God  took  him." 

If,  in  looking  at  humanity  as  it  is,  and  as  it  has  been, 
any  man  should  grow  skeptical  at  the  spectacle ;  if  the 
wickedness  of  men,  and  the  weakness  of  human  nature 
should  weaken  his  confidence  in  his  race,  he  should  call  up 
before  him  the  fact  that  the  world  has  furnished  some  good 
men. 

In  taking  a  retrospective  view  of  man's  history,  there 
appear  men  who  have  been  eminent  in  battle,  eminent  in 
politics,  in  personal  prowess,  and  even  in  the  perpetration  of 
evil.  But  along  with  this  is  the  satisfactory  truth  that  God 
has  always  had  a  seed  of  righteousness  in  the  world,  and 
there  has  never  been  a  time  when  there  was  not  at  least 
some  person  eminent  for  goodness  and  personal  piety. 
Such  was  Enoch,  and  such  was  the  subject  of  this  funeral 
occasion. 

Enoch  walked  with  God.  He  lived  at  a  time  of  great 
wickedness,  yet  his  life  was  devoted  and  pious.  While  he 
was  a  fearless  and  truthful  public  preacher  of  righteousness, 
his  private  life  was  doubtless  tne  representative  life  set  forth 
here.    It  was  here  that  "  Enoch  walked  with  God." 


ELDER   JAMES   QUINTER.  Tl 

And  how  eminently  fit  is  this  thought  in  its  application 
to  the  subject  before  us !  Father  Quinter  was  an  eloquent 
and  forcible  preacher,  a  prolific  writer,  and  a  wise  counselor, 
■  but  his  true  greatness  was  in  his  holy  walk  and  conversa- 
tion, his  integrity,  his  uprightness,  his  meekness,  his  devout- 
ness,  his  piety.  God  seemed  always  to  be  with  him,  and 
how  truly  they  walked  together ! 

His  present  physical  appearance,  as  he  lies  there  in  the 
coffin,  is  assuring  testimony  in  itself.  Who  in  looking  at 
that  face  need  be  told  that  that  body  once  enshrined  a  spirit 
embued  with  a  high  order  of  Christianity  ?  I  would  have 
crossed  the  States  just  to  look  at  that  face.  Oh,  I  loved  him 
as  a  father,  and  my  place  were  better  filled  to  day  could  I 
sit  yonder  with  the  mourners,  where  "I  could  weep  my 
spirit  from  mine  eyes,''  rather  than  stand  before  you  in  the 
attempt  to  speak.  On  Sunday  night,  when  his  body  was 
brought  into  the  house  and  we  could  see  it,  I  could  have 
stood  till  the  morning  looking  on  that  calm,  meek,  loving 
face — more  calm,  more  meek,  more  loving,  more  sweet 
because  seen  in  the  embrace  of  everlasting  silence  and 
repose. 

lie  was  not.  Just  what  the  translation  of  Enoch  was,  I 
know  not.  Just  how  it  was  accomplished,  1  know  not.  In 
some  way  it  was  through  the  agency  of  faith.  His  people 
looked  for  him,  but  found  him  not.  All  their  search  was 
vain,  he  was  not.  Just  how  this  death  was  accomplished  I 
know  not.  "How  wonderful  is  death"  in  any  form!  but 
this — in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  without  a  pain,  without  a 
struggle ;  one  moment  here,  the  next  there — how  doubly 
wonderful  is  it ! 

Enoch's  body  was  translated,  changed  and  adapted  to 
the  new  realm  by  some  other  process  than  through  ordinary 
death.  Father  Quinter's  body  was  left  for  us  to  gather 
around,  weep  over,  and  directly  carry  away.     This  is  prob- 


72  FUNERAL     SERVICES    OF 

ably  the  main  difference,  for  it  seems  almost  a  "  translation," 
Said  one,  who  witnessed  it,  to  me,  "  I  think  it  was  the  near- 
est not  death  that  it  is  possible  to  be." 

For  God  took  him.  Enoch  was  safe  with  his  God.  He 
had  "  walked"  with  God  on  the  earth,  and  now  they  walk 
together  the  streets  of  the  Golden  City.  Oh,  it  is  so  of  our 
brother.  He  delighted  in  the  companionship  of  God  when 
in  the  body.  God  has  taken  him  to  a  higher  appreciation  of 
that  companionship  in  the  spirit.  He  is  happy;  aye, 
infinitely  happy,  and  yet  we  mourn  forhira.  How  unwilling 
we  are  to  give  up  our  friends  !  How  unwilling  we  are  even 
to  think  it  likely  that  they  will  leave  us.  We  must  give 
them  up,  and  yet  how  unready  we  are !  It  is  because  we 
love  them  so,  I  suppose.  The  more  useful  and  active  they 
have  been,  the  less  ready  we  are  to  assent  to  their  removal. 
However  strong  God's  claim  on  them  may  be,  we  are  still 
unwilling  to  release  our  own.  How  often  has  it  been  said  to 
me  by  those  away  from  here  :  "  Brother  Quinter  is  getting 
old,  too,"  implying  by  word  and  tone  that  death  at  any  time 
would  not  be  any  great  improbability.  I  ahvays  evaded  the 
force  of  the  remark  and  answered  by  a  reference  to  his  good 
health  and  exceedingly  temperate  life  (unless  it  loas  in  the 
matter  of  hard  work). 

He  was  more  than  seventy-two  years  in  this  world,  and 
if  the  amount  of  labor  performed  be  accounted  for,  it  was 
more  than  a  hundred  years  of  ordinary  men's  lives  (for  men's 
lives  can  not  be  measured  exclusively  by  the  number  of 
years  intervening  their  birth  and  their  death),  and  yet  we 
unwillingly  received  the  message  of  his  death  as  an  utterly 
unexpected  thing;  nay,  almost  as  an  unnatural  thing.  I 
had  thoughts  of  his  death  recently,  but  I  had  hoped  to  hear 
him  preach  after  he  was  four-score  years.  Very  recently, 
when  indulging  in  this  hope,  it  occurred  to  me  that  his  fourth 
score  year  is  only  eight  years  thitherward,  and  the  possi- 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTER.  73 

bility  that  began  to  throw  its  threatening  gloom  even  at 
that  distance  made  me  blanch.  And  now  this  is  our  last 
glance  at  his  earthly  form.  "When  the  word  came,  the  most 
common  explanation  was,  "  Can  it  be  true  % "  And  more 
than  once,  since  this  audience  began  to  gather  to-day,  have 
I  heard  through  voices  breaking  with  emotion,  "  I  thought 
it  could  not  possibly  be."  This  is  hardly  because  we  thought 
the  man  of  a  different  kind  of  flesh  and  blood,  but  because 
we  loved  him  much,  and  felt  his  presence  could  not  be 
spared.     How  unwilling  we  are  to  give  up  our  friends! 

Of  the  extent  of  this  loss  to  the  friends,  and  of  the  extent 
of  the  loss  to  the  Church,  I  have  no  heart  to  speak  to-day. 
Could  the  spirit  of  our  loved  elder  look  backward  and  take  cog- 
nizance of  affairs  transacting  here  ;  nay,  could  his  spirit  com- 
municate to  ears  of  flesh  and  blood,  what  would  be  the  import 
of  the  words  we  would  hear? — "  Grieve  not  for  me.  I  was  long 
time  with  you.  I  taught  you  often.  I  was  with  you  much, 
but  God  took  me.  My  little  family — wife,  children,  sister, 
grieve  not  your  lives  away.  I  can  not  go  to  you,  but  by 
and  by  you  come  to  me.  Little  flock  in  Huntingdon,  mourn 
not  for  me.  My  work  is  done,  all  danger  is  past,  the  crown 
is  won.  Be  ye  faithful^  earnestly  contend  for  the  faith 
once  delivered  unto  the  saints.  Remember  the  words  I 
spake  unto  you.  Cleanse  yourselves  from  all  unrighteous- 
ness, double  your  diligence;  by  and  by,  your  time,  like 
mine,  will  come.  In  the  last  sermon  I  preached  on  earth, 
from  the  words,  '  Whoso  looketh  into  the  perfect  law  of 
liberty  and  continueth  therein,  he  being  not  a  forgetful 
hearer,  but  a  doer  of  the  work,  this  man  shall  be  blessed  in 
his  deed,'  in  speaking  on  the  clause,  'shall  be  blessed  in  his 
deed,'  I  told  you  I  felt  good.  I  was  happy  in  the  contem- 
plation of  God  and  his  law.  But  here  I  am  more  happy.  Oh 
this  glorious  abode!  Spend  not  your  time  in  grieving  there 
because  I  have  come  here,  but  prepare  to  come  to  live  in 
this  Land  of  the  Leal,  the  home  of  the  soul." 


Y4  FUNERAL    SERVICES   OF 

I  can  not  close  these  remarks  without  some  reference  to 
the  manner,  place  and  attitude  of  his  death. 

The  manner.  It  was  sudden — oh,  so  sudden.  Yet  sud- 
den deaths  are  often  very  merciful  deaths.  'Tis  true,  you 
would  like  to  have  had  some  word  to  you  or  f&ryou.  But  his 
last  words  were  to  God.  His  expiring  breath  was  vocalized 
in  thanks  to  God. 

Re  died  at  Jiispost, — blessed  death !  I  think  it  was  after 
he  preached  his  last  sermon  that  I  thought  of  his  decease. 
Would  he  die  some  time  at  his  post  in  one  of  his  bursts  of 
enthusiasm,  while  preaching  ?  Will  he  die  in  the  possession 
of  all  his  powers  and  faculties,  or  will  some  stroke  disable 
him,  and  he  languish  for  years,  his  body  disabled,  the  powers 
of  his  great  mind  broken  and  impaired,  and  tardy  death 
bring  at  last  a  glad  relief?  But  how  sadly  soon  was  the 
queerly-born  problem  solved,  and  how  truly  did  he  die  at  his 
post!  "  He  walked  with  God,  and  he  is  not,  for  God  took 
him.''     Let  it  comfort  our  rebellious  hearts! 

The  place.  Over  and  over  again  you  have  thought,  "  Oh, 
if  he  could  only  have  died  at  home."  I  do  not  wonder  at 
this.  And  yet,  when  my  mind  has  been  abstracted  from 
your  personal  grief,  I  have  thanked  my  God  and  his,  that,  if 
his  death  had  to  be  now,  it  happened  just  as  it  did.  In  an 
eminent  degree  he  was  the  Church's.  The  Church  claimed 
him  and  he  yielded  to  the  claim.  I  look  on  his  still  and 
silent  form,  and  think,  when,  until  to-day,  was  that  body  in 
a  religious  assembly,  surrounded  by  a  platform  full  of  min- 
isters, that  his  voice  was  not  heard?  He  spoke  and  we 
gladly  listened.  He  was  our  spokesman.  To-day  his  lips 
are  closed  and  his  voice  is  hushed  in  the  silence  of  death,  and 
we  try  to  speak  in  the  presence  of  his  body.  No  more  will 
he  come  in  and  go  out  here;  nd  more  will  he  move  over  this 
rostrum;  no  more  will  the  church  hear  his  fatherly  counsel; 
no  more  will  hearts  move  under  the  persuasion  of  his  elo- 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTER.  Y5 

qiience.  And  while  I  grant  that  you  have  a  place  of  sorrow 
that  none  other  can  feel  or  probably  fully  appreciate,  yet  it 
is  the  Church's  sorrow.  Oh,  it  is  our  great  grief,  it  is  our 
great  loss'.  His  mourners  to-day  are  not  all  here  at  this  ser- 
vice. They  may  be  found  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific, 
wherever  the  Brethren  Church  has  members.  A  few  hun- 
dred are  gathered  here.  In  middle  Indiana  to-day  are  ten 
thousand  bowed  heads  in  one  assembl}^,  all  mourning  the 
loss  of  a  Church  father.  Scores  who  have  been  converted ; 
thousands  whose  hearts  have  moved  and  whose  faith  has 
been  strengthened  under  his  preaching,  all  over  this  land, 
will  rise  up  and  call  him  blessed.  Old  men,  old  women  — 
fathers  and  mothers  in  Israel, —  tremblingly  waiting  on  the 
brink  of  Death's  river,  will  remember  that  they  heard  him 
preach  when  he  was  almost  a  boy;  and  as  they  lean  on  their 
canes,  or  tremble  and  wait  in  their  rooms,  they  will  drop  a 
tear  and  wonder  why  God  took  him  and  left  them. 

Is  there  not,  then,  an  eminent  appropriateness  in  the 
place  of  his  death  ?  True,  he  might  have  died  in  his  pleas- 
ant .  home,  surrounded  by  his  faithful  wife  and  daughters, 
but  he  might  have  died  alone  in  his  study  where  there  was 
no  arm  to  stay  his  fall,  or  sunk  down  in  his  yard  or  garden. 
He  might  have  died  on  the  cars,  or  fallen  down  on  the  uncon- 
secrated  planks  of  some  strange  depot,  and  been  picked  up  by 
wondering  and  curious  strangers.  He  might  have  sunk  down 
here  on  this  rostrum,  in  the  presence  of  his  flock — and  who 
that  has  ever  sat  under  his  ministry,  when  in  one  of  his 
flights  of  eloquence,  has  not  been  forced  to  think  of  the  pos- 
sibility of  such  a  thing?  But  no.,  God  had  something  else. 
His  life  had  been  given  to  the  Church,  and  God  gave  him 
the  Tabernacle  for  his  death-chamber,  and  hundreds  of  his 
brethren  of  the  ministry  for  a  death-watch.  In  the  national 
assembly,  amid  representatives  of  the  Church,  his  death-bed 
was  the  public  rostrum,  and  his  dying  words  a  public  minis- 
tration. 


76  FUNERAL    SERVICES    OF 

His  attitude.  How  eminently  appropriate!  Kneeling  in 
devotion — always  a  delightful  posture  with  him — removed 
only  that  his  last  breath  might  be  expired  while  his  body  lay 
on  the  sacred  stand,  amid  the  bibles  and  hymns  and  papers 
of  the  meeting,  in  the  presence  and  sight  of  thousands  of 
his  brethren. 

He  began  his  prayer  amidst  three  thousand  of  his  breth- 
ren of  the  militant  Church  on  earth  ;  and  who  doubts  that  he 
finished  it  amidst  ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand,  and 
thousands  of  thousands  of  his  brethren  of  the  Church  tri- 
umphant in  Heaven,  and  that  the  burden  of  his  prayer  was 
still  for  the  militant  Church  which  he  loved  and  for  which  he 
gave  his  life. 

His  spirit  broke  away  from  earth  amid  a  clamor  of 
groans  and  wails.  It  entered  the  courts  above  amid  a  burst 
of  welcoming  joy  which  made  the  corridors  of  Heaven  ring 
and  reverberate.  "  "We  thank  thee  that  we  have  met."  His 
soul  was  happy  in  the  thought.  "  We  thank  thee  that  we 
have  met,"  not  on  earth  mid  in  the  hody.  Did  he  repeat  it  in 
Heaven  1  As  his  earthly  brethren,  whose  lips  he  had  just 
kissed  in  fraternal  greeting,  rushed  about  his  body  to  sup- 
port it — and  as  they  vanished  from  his  physical  recognition, 
and  his  spirit  arose  from  this  scene,  came  there  rushing 
around  it  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect — of  those  of 
his  early  brethren  who  had  gone  before,  and  of  Paul,  and  of 
John,  and  of  Abraham,  and  of  Enoch  ?  And  as  the  glory 
scene  flashed  on  his  spiritual  recognition,  were  the  ears  of 
the  God  of  Sabaoth  again  greeted  with  the  thanksgiving 
strain,  "  Oh,  Lord,  we  thank  thee  that  we  have  met — and  in 
heaven — and  never  to  part  again  ? " 

Of  the  value  and  influence  of  his  life  and  example  I  shall 
not  attempt  to  speak  to-day.  They  will  be  strong  and  far- 
reaching.  We  thank  the  Lord  for  his  life ;  we  thank  the 
Lord  for  his  record  ;  we  thank  the  Lord  that  we  have  known 
him  and  lived  under  his  ministry. 


ELDEE   JAMES   QUINTER.  T7 

Certainly  his  real  greatness  was  in  his  sincerity,  hu- 
mility, meekness  and  purity  of  life.  After  all,  what  a 
great  thing  it  is  to  be  able  to  say  of  any  one,  "  He  is  good." 
As  we  linger  to-day  to  look  at  the  finished  volume  of  his 
closed  life,  let  us,  who  are  left,  emulate,  above  all,  this 
glorious  quality  in  the  life  of  him  who  has  passed  away. 
World,  take  your  greatness,  take  your  power,  your  pomp, 
your  honors,  and  your  laurels.  Let  there  be  bound  about 
our  brow  the  chaplet  insignia  of  a  greater,  though  humbler, 
attainment — the  consecration  of  self  and  the  love  of  goodness 
for  its  own  sake  and  the  sake  of  God  its  author.  Thus 
dead,  he  shall  still  live ;  silent,  he  shall  still  speak,  and  in 
example  live.  For,  like  Peter,  his  teaching  seemed  to  say, 
"  Moreover,  I  will  endeavor  that  ye  may  be  able  after  my 
decease,  to  have  these  things  always  in  remembrance." 
Surely,  he  might  say,  "  I  am  now  ready  to  be  offered,  and 
the  time  of  my  departure  is  at  hand.  I  have  fought  a  good 
fight,  I  have  finished  my  course,  I  have  kept  the  faith, 
henceforth,  there  is  laid  up  for  me  a  crown  of  righteous- 
ness which  the  Lord  the  righteous  judge  shall  give  me  in 
that  day."  And  the  Lord  will  sa}'^,  "  Well  done,  good  and 
faithful  servant,  enter  into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord."  And 
we  may  say,  "  Let  me  die  the  death  of  the  righteous, 
that  my  last  end  may  be  like  his."  "  Blessed  are  the 
dead  which  die  in  the  Lord.  Yea,  saith  the  Spirit,  that 
they  may  rest  from  their  labors,  and  their  works  do  follow 
them."     Amen  and  Amen  ! 

Brother  Swigart  was  followed  by  Eev.  Prideau,  an 
aged  Presbyterian  minister,  who  spoke  feelingly  and 
touchingly  of  Brother  Quinter  as  a  Christian  minister, 
and  his  associations  with  him.  As  a  Christian  eulogy  it 
was  expressive,  touching,  fitting  and  highly  appreciated  by 
all  present. 

Kev.    J.   B.  Kidder,  of   the   Baptist  Church,   who  has 


78  FUNERAL    SERVICES   OF 

passed  his  four-score  years,  with  bowed  head,  tendered  heart 
and  trembling  accents,  gave  a  few  words  of  comfort  and 
cheer,  both  for  the  church  and  bereaved  ones. 

Elder  Geo.  Brumbaugh,  of  James  Creek,  followed  with 
a  few  remarks,  but  as  the  services  were  already  quite  lengthy, 
he  did  not  feel  like  lengthening  the  time  to  give  expression 
to  the  much  that  he  felt  like  saying. 

The  582d  hymn  was  then  read  by  Kev.  Smith,  of  the 
M.  E.  Church,  after  which  the  body  was  borne  to  the 
town  cemetery,  accompanied  by  a  large  concourse  of  friends 
and  citizens,  where  the  funeral  services  were  concluded  by 
Elder  Seth  Myers  and  others. 

The  peace  of  God  abide  with  the  body  of  our  dear 
elder  that  now  lies  sleeping  in  Riverview  Cemetery.  And 
may  the  same  peace  abide  with  the  little  flock  that  he  left. 


FJL.'^T    XX. 


SERMONS 


-OF- 


Elder  James  Quinter. 


SERMONS  OF  ELDER  JAMES  QUINTER. 


I. 
THE  BROAD  LAW  OF  GOD. 

Text  :  — "  Thy  commandment  is  exceeding  broad." — Ps. 
119  :  96. 

By  commandment  in  tlie  text  we  understand  law.  The 
idea  of  law  is  frequently  contained  in  the  word  command- 
ment. By  the  Avord  commandment  in  the  following  pas- 
sage law  is  probably  meant :  "The  commandment  of  the 
Lord  is  pure,  enlightening  the  eyes."  Ps.  19  :  8.  And  in  Rom. 
7th.  ch.  Commandment  probably  means  law  generally 
where  it  is  used.  Then  the  passage  may  be  read,  The  law 
of  the  Lord  is  exceeding  broad.  And  by  lavi  we  understand 
the  divine  rule  of  conduct  contained  in  the  Scriptures.  This 
rule  is  exceeding  broad,  extending  to  all  human  beings  that 
have  access  to  it,  and  that  have  reached  a  sufficient  maturity 
of  age  to  have  an  understanding  of  it. 

I  will  first  notice  the  breadth  or  extent  of  the  divine  law, 
and  then  draw  some  inference  from  it.  And  as  we  must 
have  a  starting  point,  I  remark,  1,  That  children  are  the 
subjects  of  the  divine  law,  or  that  in  the  broad  folds  which  it 
spreads  out  in  its  great  breadth,  it  covers  our  childhood  or 
takes  hold  of  us  in  early  life.  The  fifth  commandment  of 
the  decalogue  reads  as  follows :  "  Honor  thy  father  and 
mother  that  thy  days  may  be  long  upon  the  land  which  the 
Lord  thy  God  giveth  thee."  Ex.  20  :  12.  And  the  apostle 
admonishes  the  young,  thus  :  "  Children  obey  your  parents 
in  the  Lord  ;  for  this  is  right.  Honor  thy  father  and 
mother ;  which  is   the  first  commandment   with  promise ; 


82  SERMONS    OF 

that  it  may  be  well  with  thee,  and  thou  mayst  live  long  on 
the  earth."'  Eph.  6  : 1-3. 

It  began  with  us,  my  adult  hearers,  men  and  women,  in 
our  childhood;  and  it  has  never  withdrawn  its  authority. 
Some  of  us  are  tolerably  old,  some  not  so  old,  and  some  are 
younger  still,  but  that  law  commenced  then,  and  its  obliga- 
tions are  upon  us  this  morning  with  all  their  divine  weight 
and  authority ;  and  to  that  law  you  and  I  ever  have 
been  and  ever  will  be  while  we  live,  responsible.  The 
broad  law  of  God  begins  with  us  in  our  childhood,  as 
soon  as  we  become  accountable — just  then.  But  we 
can  not  tell  the  precise  time,  when  children  become 
accountable.  We  depend  upon  the  development  of  their 
mental  and  moral  powers.  When  these  become  suf- 
ficiently developed  to  enable  children  to  understand  good 
from  evil,  and  right  from  wrong,  they  become  responsible. 
I  feel  of  later  years  much  impressed  with  the  thought 
that  we  do  not  recognize  the  accountability  of  our  children, 
as  a  general  thing,  at  a  sufficiently  early  age.  We  let  them 
go  too  long  without  feeling  a  concern  for  them,  and  think 
that  they  are  safe,  though  our  little  boys  and  girls  may  tell 
lies,  and  sometimes  swear,  and  even  steal,  yet  we  may  think 
they  are  pretty  good.  I  am  speaking  of  people  in  general, 
and  yet  when  these  little  liars  and  thieves,  and  profane  boj^s 
die,  we  do  not  feel  much  concerned  about  them,  because  we 
take  it  for  granted  that  it  is  well  with  them,  as  the}'^  were 
too  young  to  be  held  accountable.  I  am  glad,  however,  to 
know  that  the  circumstances  under  which  we  are  placed  in 
the  present  age,  with  our  Sabbath-schools,  and  teaching  of 
the  importance  of  moral  education  in  all  our  schools,  that 
this  state  of  things  unquestionably  is  changing,  and  we  are 
beginning  to  feel  more  and  more,  that  children  may  be 
accountable.  I  am  glad  to  know  that  this  feeling  is  increas- 
ing, and  God  grant  it  may  increase.      And  I  think  that  we, 


ELDER   JAMES   QUINTER.  83 

as  Sabbath-school  teachers  and  parents,  should  look  at  this 
matter  more  carefully  and  see  whether  we  have  not  been 
remiss  in  our  duty  in  regard  to  the  matter,  and  feel  the 
necessity  of  the  conversion  of  children  at  an  earlier  age  than 
we  have  been  doing.  I  draw  out  these  thoughts  from  the 
broad  law  of  God.  You  have  heard  me  read  that  law — 
"  Children,  obey  your  parents."  That  is  the  divine  law,  and 
if  that  commandment  is  violated  by  children  old  enough  to 
know  that  they  ought  not  to  do  so,  are  they  not,  in  some 
degree,  guilty  of  a  transgression  of  God's  law  ? 

I  come,  now,  to  the  young  men  and  women  of  our  country, 
of  our  town,  and  of  our  families.  "  Remember  th}^  Creator 
in  the  days  of  thy  youth."  Here  is  a  precept  of  the  broad 
law  of  God.  It  particularizes  children  as  I  have  used  it  in 
the  application.  It  passes  on  to  the  youth,  and  it  does  not 
only  require  of  the  young  to  obey  their  parents,  but  it  also 
requires  of  them  to  remember  their  Creator.  And  the  com- 
mand to  remember  him,  implies  that  they  are  to  remember 
their  duty  to  him,  and  with  faithfulness  perform  that  duty. 
Though  our  young  men  and  young  women  are  thoughtless 
about  God,  and  indifferent  to  his  claims  upon  them  for  their 
love  and  obedience,  and  think  more  about  gratifyino-  them- 
selves than  about  glorifying  him,  nevertheless,  he  thinks  of 
them,  and  among  the  aged  men  and  women  God  selects  the 
young  as  feeling  a  special  interest  in  their  welfare  and  has 
appropriated  a  part  of  his  Word  to  them — pointed  them  out 
and  directly  calls  and  encourages  them.  God  has  honored 
you,  young  women  and  men,  in  especially  calling  you,  and  we 
need  not  wonder  at  it.  It  is  not  a  mysterious  problem  why 
it  should  be  so,  when  we  think  of  the  strength  and  vio-or  of 
the  young,  when  we  think  of  your  capacity  for  usefulness,  as 
the  apostle  John  said  when  he  wrote,  "  I  have  written  to 
you,  young  men,  because  you  are  strong."  1  John,  2  :  14. 
2.     In  passing  on  with  this  broad  law,  as  it  begins  with 


S4  SERMONS   OF 

the  child,  and  apphes  to  our  youth,  I  remark  that  it  comes  to 
the  older,  to  the  parents  as  well  as  to  the  children.  Parents 
are  thus  admonished  :  "  And,  ye  fathers,  provoke  not  your 
children  to  wrath ;  but  bring  them  up  in  the  nurture  and 
admonition  of  the  Lord,"     Eph.  6  :  4. 

We  are  all  pointed  out,  parents  and  children,  as  subjects 
of  the  broad  law  of  God,  and  according  to  that  law  there 
are  duties  connected  with  all  the  relations  in  which  we  stand 
to  one  another.  And  while  our  children  should  honor  us, 
we  should  honor  them.  What  do  I  mean  by  honoring  them  ? 
1  mean  we  should  treat  them  not  simply  as  our  offspring, 
but  as  the  offspring  of  God,  and  recognize  in  them  a  spirit- 
ual nature,  and  deathless  spirits,  which  are  to  be  cultivated, 
and  which  will,  if  cultivated,  enjoy  a  glorious  immortality; 
but  if  left  uncultivated,  they  will  be  lost  to  themselves,  lost 
to  God,  and  lost  to  their  Christian  parents.  So  we  should 
look  upon  our  children.  So  God  looks  upon  them,  and 
hence  the  obligations  that  we  are  under  according  to  the 
requirements  of  the  divine  and  broad  law,  to  train  them  for 
him  and  for  immortality, 

3.  The  broad  law  of  God  contains  rules  for  the  govern- 
ment of  husbands  and  wives  in  their  relations  in  which  they 
stand  to  one  another.  "  Wives,  submit  yourselves  unto  your 
own  husbands,  as  unto  the  Lord.  For  the  husband  is  the 
head  of  the  wife,  even  as  Christ  is  the  head  of  the  church: 
and  he  is  the  Savior  of  the  body.  Therefore  as  the  church 
is  subject  unto  Christ  so  let  the  wives  be  to  their  own  hus- 
bands in  everything.  Husbands,  love  your  wives,  even  as 
Christ  also  loved  the  church,  and  gave  himself  for  it."  Epii. 
5 :  22-24.  It  may  be  laid  down  as  a  general  rule,  that  a 
multiplication  of  relations  in  life,  multiplies  our  duties.  The 
more  positions  in  life  we  fill,  the  greater  will  be  our  obliga- 
tions that  we  shall  have  to  meet.  While  an  increase  of  busi- 
ness usually  is  attended  with  an  increase  of  care,  it  is  also 


ELDER    .TAMES    QUINTER.  85 

attended  with  an  increase  of  obligations.  And  if  we  multi- 
ply our  callings  and  obligations,  we  then  shall  need  more 
divine  grace  to  enable  us  to  meet  those  obligations.  And 
while  we  should  not  shun  relations  if  they  are  lawful  and 
right  because  they  increase  our  obligations,  we  should  enter 
upon  them  knowing  that  our  obligations  are  increased  by  so 
doing. 

The  apostle  says,  "  marriage  is  honorable  in  all."  It  is 
then  sanctioned  by  Heaven,  and  like  all  other  divine  appoint- 
ments, it  is  designed  for  good  and  benevolent  purposes.  But 
let  the  young  man  know,  and  let  the  young  woman  know, 
that  when  they  enter  into  the  marriage  state,  their  responsi- 
bilities increase.  Our  young  friends  here  this  morning,  both 
young  men  and  young  women,  have  duties  to  meet  and 
obligations  to  bear  in  your  single  state.  But  when  you 
pledge  yourselves  to  each  other  at  the  hymeneal  altar,  and 
become  husband  and  wife,  you  increase  your  responsibilities, 
obligations  and  duties.  Moral  responsibility  is  not  felt  as  it 
ought  to  be.  If  it  were  more  properly  appreciated,  we 
would  look  at  the  married  state  often  in  a  different  lio^ht  to 
what  we  look  upon  it  now.  We  would  associate  with  it 
responsibilities  and  obligations  that  we  now  too  often  fail 
to  do.  As  I  have  before  remarked,  when  we  enter  into  that 
state  then  our  obligations  increase  ;  then  we  stand  in  a  new 
relation,  one  which  we  never  occupied  before,  and  its  duties 
we  must  meet.  Then,  when  we  are  made  parents,  and,  when 
we  assume  the  relation  of  parents,  there  is  another  increase 
of  responsibility.  Then  we  must  meet  the  duties  of  the 
parent ;  then  the  broad  law  of  God  comes  to  us  and  we  are 
responsible  to  that  law  for  the  discharge  of  our  parental 
duties. 

4.  I  proceed  to  refer  to  our  relation  to  one  another  as 
neighbors.  We  are  to  love  'our  neighbor  as  ourselves. 
Matt.  19  :  19.     It  was  asked  in  ancient  times,  "  who  is  ray 


86  SERMONS    OF 

neighbor,"  and  our  blessed  Lord,  in  his  wisdom  presented 
us  with  one  of  the  most  touching  and  vahiable  parables  in 
his  teachings  to  illustrate  who  the  neighbor  is.  1  mean  the 
parable  of  the  good  Samaritan,  Luke  10  :  25-36.  We  often 
may  think  our  neighbor  is  the  individual  that  lives  next 
door  to  us  or  in  the  house  close  by.  That  may  be  so,  but  I 
want  to  tell  you  that  your  neighbors  are  in  this  school. 
Here  in  your  school,  you  are  all  neighbors  together,  in  the 
Scriptural  sense  of  the  word.  As  students  you  are  neigh- 
bors ;  the  professoi's  are  neighbors  to  each  other  and  neigh- 
bors to  the  students,  and  the  students  are  neighbors  to  the  pro- 
fessors. The  Scripture  idea  of  a  neighbor  is  one  thai  needs 
our  help,  one  over  whom  we  can  exert  an  influence.  That 
is  the  idea  of  neighborship  in  the  meaning  of  the  broad  and 
perfect  law  of  a  living  God.  Do  not  forget  that.  Let  us 
all  remember  that  we  are  neighbors  and  that  the  Lord 
requires  us  to  love  one  another.  It  would  help  greatly  to 
promote  harmony  and  love  and  happiness  and  peace  and 
success  amongst  us,  in  our  church,  and  school  and  every- 
where else. 

5.  We  here  stand  related,  children  to  parents,  husbands 
to  wives,  wives  to  husbands,  and  we  are  neighbors  related  to 
neighbors,  but  we  also  bear  a  relationship  to  God.  Would 
we  sunder  all  our  connections  with  God,  and  take  a  posi- 
tion that  we  are  independent  of  him,  and  that  we  can  live 
without  hmi  ?  Surely  we  will  not  take  such  a  position. 
"  For  in  him  we  live  and  move  and  have  our  being."  Acts 
17  :  28.  Then  will  we  recognize  no  obligations  that  we  are 
under  to  Him  ?  I  have  the  satisfaction  of  believing  this 
morning  that  there  is  not  one  here  that  would  maintain  that 
position.  Young  man,  irreligious  as  you  may  be,  I  feel  that 
you  are  not  willing  to  say  that  you  are  independent  of  God  ; 
that  you  do  not  care  for  hira^  Then  what  is  the  true  state 
of  the  case?    We  are  the  subjects  of  his  government,.and 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTER.  87 

we  owe  him  our  obedience.  God  once  said  to  his  people, 
and  that  appeal  is  as  applicable  this  morning  to  us  as  to 
those  to  whom  the  appeal  was  made,  "  If  I  am  a  father, 
where  is  my  honor  ?  If  I  am  a  master,  where  is  my  fear  ? " 
Mai.  1:6.  If  his  providence  has  sustained  us,  and  benevo- 
lence and  goodness  have  given  us  the  comforts  and  enjoy- 
ments we  experience,  must  we  not  acknowledge  that  we  are 
under  many  obligations  to  him?  We  are  all,  both  young 
and  old,  related  to  God.  We  are  his  servants,  his  creatures, 
his  children,  and  God  requires  of  us  our  service,  our  love, 
and  in  the  folds  of  this  broad  law  I  find  the  commandment, 
"  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and 
with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  mind,  and  with  all  thy 
strength."  Mark  12  :  30.  I  find  that  in  this  law,  and  that  is 
what  arises  from  the  relation  of  dependence  which  we  sus- 
tain to  God.  Here  is  the  commandment  of  God  growing 
out  of  that  relation,  and  that  command  continues,  and 
requires  us  to  love  him.  It  will  stand  and  stand  forever  ;  and 
it  will  stand  with  increased  weight  and  plainness  when  the 
volume  of  inspiration  is  opened  at  the  judgment  day,  and  when 
you  and  I  shall  stand  before  the  bar  of  God,  and  be  judged 
out  of  the  broad  law.  That  command  \vill  stand,  and  if  we  have 
not  observed  it  then  I  need  not  tell  you  what  the  conse- 
quences will  be, 

6.  There  is  another  view  of  the  divine  law  of  God  sfiven 
in  the  Scriptures,  and  which  is  another  evidence  to  prove 
that  it  is  indeed  a  'broad  law.  It  is  a  law  that  takes  cogni- 
zance of  our  very  thoughts.  Human  law  does  not  generally 
take  notice  of  the  thoughts  of  its  subjects,  and  only  looks  at 
guilt  generally  when  thoughts  are  put  into  actions.  And 
it  is  proper  that  this  should  be  the  case,  since  neither  the 
administrators  of  human  law,  nor  the  witnesses  called  upon 
to  give  testimony  can  see  into  the  heart  of  the  criminal.  In 
the  administration  of  human  law,  actions  are  necessary  to 


88  SERMONS    OF 

prove  character,  or  to  prove  guilt.  But  in  the  administra 
tion  of  the  divine  or  broad  law  of  God,  cognizance  is  taken 
even  of  human  thoughts  before  they  are  formed  into  actions. 
So  broad  is  the  divine  law,  that  in  its  unfolding  applications, 
it  covers  our  ver}"  thoughts.  The  tenth  commandment  of 
the  decalogue  reads  as  follows :  "  Thou  shalt  not  covet  thy 
neighbor's  house,  thou  shalt  not  covet  thy  neighbor's  wife, 
nor  his  man-servant,  nor  his  maid-servant,  nor  his  ox,  nor 
his  ass,  nor  anything  that  is  thy  neighbor's."  Ex.  20 :  17. 
Among  the  precepts  of  the  divine  law  requiring  equity 
between  man  and  man,  there  is  this  one  which  strikes  at  the 
very  root  of  injustice  from  man  to  man,  bv  forbidding  the 
corrupt  desires  and  concupiscence  of  the  heart.  In  accord- 
ance with  the  principle  of  the  tenth  commandment,  Paul 
says,  "  I  had  not  known  lust,  except  the  law  had  said,  thou 
shalt  not  covet."  Rom.  Y:  7.  Our  Lord  declares  in  refer- 
ence to  the  spirit  of  this  commandment,  "  Whosoever  looketh 
on  a  woman  to  lust  after  her  hath  committed  adultery  with 
her  already  in  his  heart."  Matt.  5 :  28.  And  the  apostle 
John  declares,  "Whosoever  hateth  his  brother  is  a  mur- 
derer."    lJohn3:15. 

Men  often  think  that  they  are  free  from  any  sin  that 
endangers  their  salvation  if  their  life  outwardly  has  been 
free  from  any  gross  sin.  But  would  such  look  within  them- 
selves, into  the  evil  thoughts  of  their  hearts,  and  then  apply 
to  themselves  the  broad  law  of  God  which  condemns  impure 
thoughts  as  well  as  impure  actions,  they  would  form  a  dif- 
ferent view  of  themselves.  Such  then  is  the  broad  law  of 
God.  I  shall  now  proceed  to  draw  some  inferences  from 
this  extensive  application  of  the  divine  law. 

1.  How  liable  we  are  to  sin  since  we  have  so  many  duties 
to  perform,  growing  out  of  our  various  and  numerous  rela- 
tions which  we  fill  in  life.  And  every  time  we  fail  to  per- 
form our  duty  in  any  of  our  relations,  we  commit  sin.     We 


ELDER    JAMES    QUINTER.  89 

commence  to  sin  in  our  youth,  if  we  fail  to  keep  the  divine 
law,  for  it  makes  its  demands  upon  us  in  our  youth  as  I  have 
already  shown.  How  have  we  met  its  requirements?  Have 
we  not  all  violated  that  law,  at  least  in  some  of  its  parts,  in 
some  of  the  relations  in  which  that  law  comes  to  us  ?  May 
I  not  go  back  to  our  childhood  and  ask  where  are  the  per- 
sons that  have  always  rendered  honor  and  respect  to  their 
parents  ?  My  father  died  and  left  me  an  orphan  when  I  was 
only  thirteen  years  old.  I  was  converted  to  God  when  I 
was  in  my  seventeenth  year,  and  hence  I  was  unconverted 
for  several  years  after  the  death  of  my  father.  Among  the 
things  that  impressed  my  mind  when  I  felt  my  responsi- 
bilit3',and  saw  the  error  of  my  ways,  and  felt  the  importance 
of  doing  right,  was  my  unkindness  to  my  father.  But  he 
was  then  dead,  and  I  wished  he  was  living,  if  for  no  other 
purpose,  that  I  could  go  to  him  and  tell  him  that  I  wanted 
him  to  forgive  me.  I  was  not  particularly  unkind  to  my 
father,  but  he  was  particularly  kind  to  me,  and  a  kind  par- 
ent deserves  special  kindness  from  a  child.  Andif  I  had  not 
been  converted,  and  my  guilt  blotted  out,  my  sin  as  a  diso- 
bedient boy  would  have  met  me  in  the  judgment.  And  so 
it  may  be  with  others  among  us.  H  you  did  wrong  under 
these  circumstances,  and  have  never  obtained  forgiveness, 
these  wrongs  will  stand  until  they  are  washed  away  by  the 
blood  of  Christ.  Then  as  husbands  and  wives,  as  parents 
and  children,  and  neighbors,  how  have  we  lived  ?  How  have 
we  performed  our  duties  to  our  associates  and  companions  ? 
And  lastl}^,  how  have  we  performed  them  to  God  ?  Oh 
there  is  guilt,  upon  those  living  under  a  law  so  pure,  and 
holy,  and  perfect  as  the  broad  law  of  God  is  if  they  have 
not  been  pardoned. 

2.  Then  if  all  are  guilty,  how  much  need  have  we  of  a 
Saviour,  and  just  such  a  Saviour  as  we  need,  God  has  provid- 
ed for  us  in  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.     Through  him  the  sins  of 


90  „SERMONS   OF 

youth,  of  our  maturer  years,  and  the  sins  of  our  old  age  may 
all  be  pardoned.  Through  him  we  may  be  born  again,  and 
be  made  new  creatures.  This  is  a  glorious  truth — glad  tid- 
ings. Sin  has  abounded  extensively,  but  grace  may  much 
more  abound.  And  whatever  may  be  the  number,  or  the 
character  of  our  sins,  they  all  may  be  forgiven.  How  neces- 
sary then  is  Christ  for  us  all,  as  we  have  all  sinned.  And  to 
him  we  should  all  go,  on  him  we  all  should  believe,  and  into 
fellowship  with  him,  and  his  suffering,  merits,  and  righteous- 
ness we  all  should  be  brought,  for  he  is  a  needful,  sufficient 
and  only  Savior. 

3.  While  we  need  pardon  for  the  transgressions  of  the 
broad  law  of  God  which  we  have  already  committed,  we 
shall,  if  we  keep  that  law  in  all  its  holy  requirements  and 
diversified  applications,  need  divine  help  to  enable  us  to  do 
so.  And  that  help  we  may  obtain.  The  Saviour  of  the  Gos- 
pel does  not  only  pardon  sin,  but  he  also  protects  us  from 
sin,  and  enables  us  to  do  right.  "I  can  do  all  things"  said 
Pauly  "  through  Christ  which  strengtheneth  me."  Phil.  4  :  13. 
And  he  says  to  Timothy  "God  hath  not. given  us  the  spirit 
of  fear ;  but  of  power,  and  of  love,  and  of  a  sound  mind."  2 
Tim.  1:7.  By  a  diligent  use  of  the  means  of  grace,  grace 
sufficient  for  every  emergency  may  be  obtained. 

Finally,  the  broad  law  of  God  is  a  law  of  benevolence, 
and  its  great  object  is  to  promote  the  welfare  and  happiness 
of  men.  And  the  more  fully  it  is  carried  out  in  all  our  rela- 
tions of  life,  and  lived  up  to  in  all  our  doings  and  dealing, 
the  happier  we  shall  be,  while  here  in  this  state  of  being,  and 
there  is  no  hope  of  heaven  without  being  right  and  doing 
right.  ''  Blessed  are  they  that  do  his  commandments,  that 
they  may  have  right  to  the  tree  of  life,  and  may  enter  in 
through  the  gates  into  the  city."  Rev.  22 :  14. 


ELDER   JAMES    QIINTER.  91 

II. 

THE  GREAT  END  AND  AIM  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN. 

Text  : — "  Herein  do  I  exercise  myself,  to  have  always  a 
conscience  void  of  offense  toward  God,  and  toward  men." 
Acts  24 :  16. 

This  is  part  of  Paul's  defense  that  he  made  when  he 
was  brought  before  the  governor  Felix.  He  was  called  to 
account  for  a  number  of  charges  which  were  made  against 
him.  These  charges  were  made  by  the  man  that  is  here  called 
TertuUus.  It  is  probable  that  as  Paul  was  to  be  tried  under 
Roman  law  that  the  judges  employed  this  Tertullus  as  a  bar- 
rister or  lawyer.  The  judges  employed  this  lawyer  Tertullus 
who  was,  as  his  name  implies,  a  Roman,  that  he  might  the 
better  present  the  case  according  to  the  Roman  law.  This 
was  not  done  to  favor  Paul,  for  the  Jews  were  bound  upon 
his  condemnation ;  but  it  was  probably  for  the  purpose  of 
aiding  [^them  to  secure  his  condemnation  that  Tertullus  was 
employed.  This  man  Tertullus,  then,  was  their  spokesman. 
He  was  the  orator — the  man  who  w^as  to  do  the  talking. 
His  part,  therefore,  Avas  to  give  the  charges  which  they  made 
against  Paul.  These  charofes  were  three  in  number.  The 
first  charge  w^as  that  of  sedition  ;  the  second,  the  crime  of 
heresy;  and  the  third  was  that  of  sacrilege.  The  charge 
of  sedition  is  the  crime  of  disturbing  the  peace  of  the  com- 
munity, or  of  awakening  a  disturbance  among  the  people, 
either  against  one  another  or  against  the  government.  It  is  a 
crime  somewhat  similar  to  rebellion,  though  of  a  less  degree. 
There  are  three  crimes  of  this  nature.  Thege  are  sedition, 
insurrection  and  rebellion.  Sedition  is  the  mildest  form  of 
this  kind  of  crime.  Rebellion  usually  begins  Avith  sedition, 
and  is  the  highest  crime  of  this  nature.  It  is  upon  the 
charge  of  sedition  that  Paul  is  brought  before  Felix.  They 
accused  Paul  of  being  active  in  stirring  up  the  people  and 


92  SERMONS   OF 

disturbing  the  peace  of  the  community.  Another  charge 
■was  that  of  heresy.  They  ao^used  him  of  trying  to  lead 
the  people  from  the  faith  of  the  fathers.  The  charge  came 
through  Tertullus  who  was  a  Roman,  but  it  was  heresy 
according  to  the  Jewish  law  with  which  he  was  charged, 
that  is,  a  departure  from  the  Jewish  mode  of  worship.  The 
third  charge  was  that  of  sacrilege.  As  it  is  said,  he  profaned 
the  temple.  Sacrilege  is  a  violation  of  sacred  things.  It  is 
the  taking  of  things  designed  for  sacred  uses,  and  applying 
them  to  secular  uses.  The  charge  is  here  made  that  he  pro- 
faned the  Jewish  temple;  that  he  had  not  manifested  a 
sufficient  amount  of  respect  toward  the  temple.  The  charge 
was,  tliat  he  had  been  seen  with  certain  Greeks  in  the 
temple.  As  the  feet  of  a  Greek  profaned  the  temple, 
according  to  the  Jewish  ideas,  Paul  was  accused  of  heresy 
because,  they  said  he  took  these  Greeks  into  the  temple 
There  is  no  evidence  of  this.  The  Jews,  in  their  bitter  hos- 
tilit}^  to  Paul,  were  ready  to  adopt  any  subterfuge,  to  use  any 
falsehood,  or  do  anything  else  of  this  kind  that  would  ren- 
der the  charges  more  certain  which  they  made  against  Paul. 
After  these  charges  were  presented,  Paul  was  permitted  to 
reply.  He  did  reply.  He  employed  no  lawj'^er,  however. 
He  did  it  without  any  help — human  help,  I  mean.  He  had 
no  human  help.  He  had  no  Tertullus  to  plead  for  him. 
He  had  no  Roman  lawyer.  His  only  help  was  that  of  God. 
"  Herein  do  I  exercise  mj'self,  to  have  always  a  conscience 
void  of  offense  toward  God,  and  toward  man."  He  was  con- 
scious of  his  innocency,  of  his  integrity  and  of  the  justice  of 
his  cause.  He  defended  himself  from  the  charges  which  were 
made  against  him.  This  defense  was  made  very  justly,  very 
boldly,  very  clearlv,  and  I  think,  very  successfully.  In  this 
defense  he  used  the  language  of  our  text:  "  Herein  do  1 
exercise  myself,  to  have  always  a  conscience  void  of  offense 
toward   God,  and  toward  men."     They  had   charged   him 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTER.  93 

with  sacrilege — with  profaning  the  temple.  He  now  says, 
"  Herein  do  I  exercise  inyself,  to  have  a  conscience  void  of 
offense  toward  God,  and  toward  men."  This  means,  I 
would  not,  under  any  circumstances  or  for  any  considera- 
tion, profane  the  temple  of  God,  or  defile  his  service,  or 
treat  him  with  irreverence,  or  profane  anything  of  a  divine 
character,  or  any  divine  law,  or  disobey  his  government,  or 
profane  anything  which  pertains  to  God." 

He  was  charged  with  disturbing  the  peace  of  the  com- 
munity. His  language  also  replies  to  this:  "  Herein  do  I 
exercise  myself,  to  have  a  conscience  void  of  offense  toward 
God,  and  toward  men."  He  here  signifies  that  he  has  cor- 
rupted no  man,  that  he  would  not  give  any  just  occasion 
for  disturbing  the  peace  of  the  community,  or  lead  any 
away  from  the  path  of  duty.  Instead  of  doing  anything 
of  that  kind,  he  says,  or  rather  implies  it,  that  it  has  been 
one  of  his  great  purposes  in  life  to  discharge  his  duty  toward 
men,  and  live  with  a  conscience  void  of  offense  toward  men, 
as  well  as  toward  God.  That  is  what  his  language  im])lies. 
In  using  this  language,  we  will  look  at  it  under  three  heads, 
which  seem  properly  to  be  contained  in  the  subject. 

The  first  is  the  grand  end  and  aim  of  the  Christian.  And 
this  is  to  live  with  a  "conscience  void  of  offense  toward  God, 
and  toward  men."  Secondly,  the  great  work  of  the  Chris- 
tian, which  is  to  maintain  the  state  referred  to  in  the  text. 
Thirdly,  the  motives  which  prompt  the  Christian  man  and 
woman  to  live  with  a  "  conscience  void  of  offense  toward 
God,  and  toward  men." 

The  first  point  is  the  grand  design  of  the  Christian. 
And  this  is  to  "live  with  a  conscience  void  of  offense  toward 
God,  and  toward  men."  This  should  be  our  object.  It  is 
the  object  of  all  sincere  and  intelligent  Christians.  You 
may  not  think  of  your  object  as  Christians  in  the  very 
thoughts   that   I  present  it  in,  but  in  substance  it  must  be 


94  SERMONS   0"F 

your  thought,  my  brother  and. sister,  if  you  are  living  with 
a  proper  end  in  view.  Then  your  end  will  not  be  lower  or 
any  less  in  grandeur  and  excellency  than  was  the  end  and 
aim  of  Paul,  when  he  said  before  his  persecutors,  "  Herein 
do  I  exercise  myself,  to  have  always  a  conscience  void  of 
offense  toward  God,  and  toward  men."  This  is  the  sub- 
stance of  our  purpose,  and  the  real  essence  of  our  design. 
The  subject  does  not  necessarily  require  an  explanation  of 
conscience,  and  I  have  no  explanation  to  offer  upon  it. 
Suffice  it  to  say,  it  is  a  very  important  part  of  our  being. 
It  is  one  of  the  most  striking  characteristics  that  separate 
man  from  the  lower  animals  of  creation.  The  lowest  type 
of  human  reason,  and  the  highest  order  of  brute  instinct, 
come  near  together  in  some  instances.  There  is  not  the 
wide  gulf  between  man  and  the  lower  animals  in  regard  to 
his  intellectuality  simply,  that  there  is  in  some  other  respects, 
especially  in  the  respect  to  which  I  have  just  referred  you. 
There  is  no  moral  sense  or  conscience  in  the  brute  creation. 
There  is  no  sense  of  right  or  wrong.  There  is,  however,  in 
man.  There  is  a  feeling  of  approval  present  when  we 
know  that  we  have  been  doing  that  which  is  right,  and 
when  we  do  that  which  is  wrong,  there  is  a  feeling  of 
remorse.  This  feeling  is  produced  by  conscience  and  is 
found  in  every  man  in  which  his  moral  nature  has  not  been 
destroyed  or  swallowed  up  by  sin.  There  is  no  such  feel- 
ing as  this  in  the  brute  creation.  This  conscience,  this  moral 
nature,  this  moral  sense,  is  that  which  elevates  us  above  the 
brute  creation,  and  makes  the  difference,  and  forms  one  of  the 
most  striking  lines  of  division  between  man  and  the  lower 
animals.  Looking  at  man  from  his  moral  standpoint,  we 
find  one  of  the  most  remarkable  elements  of  his  wonderful 
character.  This  element  is  conscience — something  that,  as 
we  have  stated,  makes  us  feel  happy  when  we  have  been 
doing  right,  and  makes  us  feel  the  pangs  of  remorse  when  we 


ELDER   JAMES   QUINTEE.  95 

have  been  doing  wrong.  This  is  manifested  at  an  early  age 
in  our  children.  As  we  have  moral  and  religious  instruction 
that  feeling  becomes  more  and  more  developed.  When  we 
are  converted  to  God,  then  we  have  a  good  conscience. 
When  we  have  this  we  feel  badly  when  wrong  is  done,  and 
we  feel  good  when  the  action  is  right.  All  men,  however, 
who  are  not  extremely  depraved,  have  more  or  less  of  con- 
science, and  feel  unhappy  when  they  have  been  doing  wrong, 
and  feel  comparatively  good  when  they  have  been  doing 
right.  Paul  wanted  to  have  a  conscience  void  of  offense.  He 
wanted  his  conscience  free  from  condemnation  toward  jGod. 
He  wanted  to  be  able  to  meet  God  with  a  conscience  void 
of  offense,  for  he  knew  that  he  must  meet  him,  as  we  all 
must  do.  Paul  wanted  to  feel  that  he  could  look  upon  God 
without  any  condemnation,  without  any  remorse,  without 
any  awakening  of  painful  feelings.  He  wanted  to  think  of 
eternity  with  calmness.  When  he  was  brought  before 
Governor  Felix,  and  King  Agrippa,  he  wanted  there  to  have 
a  conscience  void  of  offense.  He  wanted  also  to  meet  his 
fellow-men  and  to  be  able  to  look  them  in  the  face  without 
any  condemnation.  He  wanted  to  discharge  his  duty  so 
faithfully  to  his  fellow-men  that  when  he  should  meet  them 
at  the  bar  of  God  in  judgment,  they  could  justly  charge 
him  with  no  wrong  to  them.  Such  a  conscience  was  the 
grand  object  of  Paul's  life,  and  to  the  attainment  of  such  a 
state  was  his  life  devoted.  These  were  his  thoughts.  His 
greatest  efforts  and  all  his  labors  were  applied  to  that  end, 
to  the  attainment  of  that  state  of  having  a  "  conscience  void 
of  offense  toward  God,  and  toward  men." 

Further,  in  regard  to  this  conscience,  three  things  are 
necessar3\  First,  we  must  have  a  rule  that  we  look  upon  as 
right,  a  rule  of  right  by  which  we  must  govern  our  lives ; 
secondly,  there  must  be  an  impartial  application  of  that  rule 
to  our  conduct  in  order  to  find  out  that  our  conduct  has 


96  SERMONS   OF 

been  in  harmony  with  our  rule,  and  thirdly,  we  must  feel 
assured  that  our  conduct  is  strictly  jn  harmony  with  our  rule 
of  right.  In  order  that  you  may  understand  this  point,  I 
might,  perhaps,  say  again,  that  we  must  have  some  rule  of 
right.  Perhaps  you  are  aware  that  no  individual,  or  body 
of  men,  is  altogether  without  some  rule  of  right.  It  will 
be  impossible  to  accomplish  any  enterprise  in  which  several 
persons  are  engaged,  without  some  general  rule  of  right  for 
their  government.  Even  robbers  who  have  united  together 
to  accomplish  the  worst  of  objects,  accept  of  some  rule,  or  law 
for  their  government.  We  may,  therefore,  say  that  every 
man  has  some  rule  of  right  and  wrong.  Every  man  has  this 
moral  nature  in  him. 

To  have  a  conscience  strictly  void  of  offense  towards 
God,  and  toward  men,  we  must  have  a  rule  of  right.  This 
rule  must  be  the  word  of  God.  To  live  with  a  conscience 
void  of  offense  toward  God,  and  toward  men,  it  is  plain  to  us 
all,  that  we  must  do  right  according  to  the  law  of  God.  Job. 
said,  "  I  will  say  unto  God,  do  not  condemn  me. — Job  x,  2. 
Now,  if  we  would  not  have  God  to  condemn  us,  we  must  do 
what  he  requires  of  us,  or  we  must  make  satisfaction  to  him 
by  repentance.  And  so,  if  we  would  not  have  men  to  con- 
demn us,  we  must  do  right  to  them. 

In  the  last  day  we  must  stand  before  his  majestic  throne, 
with  the  open  volumes  before  us,  and  have  God  judge  us. 
To  have  a  conscience,  then  and  there,- void  of  offense,  we 
must  previously  have  lived  according  to  the  Gospel  rule 
of  right.  In  regard  to  our  living  with  a  conscience  void  of 
offense  toward  men,  by  what  rule  must  we  live  in  order  that 
they  will  not  condemn  us  ?  By  the  same  Gospel  rule.  This 
is  to  govern  us  in  our  conduct  toward  God  and  toward  men. 
Though  we  do  right  to  men,  they  may  still  condemn  us. 
But  if  we  do  our  duty  to  them,  there  will  be  no  just  ground 
for  their  condemnation,  and  God  will  acquit  us  in  the  day 


ELDER   JAMES    QDINTER.  9Y  ■ 

of  judgment.  The  Saviour,  himself,  did  not  escape  the  con- 
demnation of  men.  In  one  of  his  discourses  were  given 
some  words,  which  contained  a  reproof  of  the  Phaiysees. 
The  disciples  came  to  him  and  said,  "  Knowest  thou  that 
the  Pharisees  were  offended,  after  they  heard  this  saying?" 
— Matt.  XV.  12.  The  reproof  was  contained  in  these  words, 
"  Do  not  ye  yet  understand,  that  whatsoever  entereth  in  at 
the  mouth  goeth  into  the  belly,  and  is  cast  out  into  the 
draught  ?  But  those  things  which  proceed  out  of  the  mouth 
come  forth  from  the  heart ;  and  they  defile  the  man."  This 
was  said  when  he  was  exposing  a  mistake  of  the  Pharisees  in 
following  only  an  outside  form  in  worship.  They  thought 
they  could  not  eat  a  little  meat  without  being  unclean.  If 
they  drank  a  few  drops  of  water  out  of  a  Gentile  cup  they 
thought  it  would  defile  them.  Their  misconception  of  right 
led  Christ  to  rebuke  them.  "  Do  ye  not  understand,"  said 
he,  "that  it  is  not  that  which  entereth  in  at  the  mouth,  but 
that  which  proceedeth  out  of  the  mouth,  that  defiles  a 
man?  "  He  told  them  that  they  must  be  clean  within,  that 
it  is  not  that  which  goes  into  the  mouth  that  defileth  a  man, 
but  that  which  comes  out  of  his  heart.  It  is  our  vulgarity 
and  profanity  and  evil  talking  which  comes  out  of  the  mouth 
that  defile  us. 

We  are  to  live  with  a  conscience  void  of  offense  toward 
men.  It  is  not  necessary  to  have  a  conscience  void  of 
offense  for  us  to  live  so  that  men  will  not  abuse  us  or  feel 
offended  at  us,  because  men  of  this  world  were  offended  at 
Christ.  We  are  to  live  so  that  they  may  not  have  an}'^  just 
reason  to  be  offended  at  us.  That  is  the  way  we  should  live. 
We  should  so  live  that  they  will  not  justly  have  any  reason 
to  feel  that  we  have  done  the  many  injury.  The  Saviour  was 
right  when  he  gave  that  rebuke.  It  was  a  grand  lesson — a 
beautiful  lesson.  It  was  right  that  he  did  it.  The}''  took 
offense  without  any  just  ground  for  it.     When  I  preach  the 


98  SERMONS    OF 

truth  to  you,  and  I  am  in  the  right  spirit,  and  try  with  all 
kindness  and  love  to  deliver  the  message  to  you ;  when  I 
repi»ove  and  rebuke  those  who  are  out  of  the  way,  and  they 
take  offense  at  my  preaching,  it  is  not  my  fault.  Are  we, 
the  teacher,  the  preacher,  the  neighbor,  the  friend  who 
kindly  reprove  sin,  in  fault,  if  people  become  offended  ?  No. 
If  in  my  preaching  the  Gospel,  from  time  to  time,  I  give 
offense,  when  I  meet  these  people  at  the  bar  of  God,  will  my 
conscience  condemn  me  ?  When  I  go  out  of  the  church 
sometimes,' and  go  home,  some  one  says  to  me,  "Brother 
Quinter,  you  are  too  plain  in  3^ our  application,  too  close  in 
your  criticism,and  the  people  Avere  offended."  Does  m}'^  con- 
science condemn  me  ?  I  think  first  about  it,  because  we  are 
sometimes  impulsive.  We  say  things,  sometimes,  which  are 
not  Avrong  in  themselves,  but  the  spirit  may  be.  I  ask  my 
friend,  what  is  the  matter?  To  what  truths  were  exceptions 
taken  ?  When  I  find  that  it  was  not  my  manner,  but  the 
subject  of  my  remarks,  and  the  truth  which  I  was  trying  to 
present,  my  conscience  is  easy. 

"If  God  be  for  us,  who  can  be  against  us?"  asks  the 
apostle. — Rom.  viii.  31.  So  if  we  do  right  to  men  and  to 
God,  and  we  know  that  God  is  for  us,  it  matters  not  what 
men  may  say  about  us.  If  our  conscience  is  right  and  it 
does  not  condemn  us,  we  will  have  the  rejoicing  of  our  con- 
science (2  Cor.  i.  12),  let  men  say  and  do  whatever  they  may. 
And  here  is  one  of  the  great  sources  of  enjoyment  to  the 
Christian.  The  assurance  that  he  is  right,  is  a  great  source 
of  enjoyment  to  him.  Men  are  offended  at  the  truth 
because  they  do  not  understand  it.  If  tliey  understood  it, 
they  would  not  be  offended  at  it.  It  is  because  men  are  in 
love  with  sin  that  they  do  not  want  to  have  their  sins  con- 
demned. When  they  see  the  evil  of  sin,  as  they  will  some- 
time see  it,  then  they  will  not  be  offended  at  hearing 
their  sins  reproved.      Persons  sometimes  become  so  much 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTER.  99 

offended  at  preachers  that  they  will  not  go  to  hear  them. 
Now  if  it  is  the  truth  at  which  they  become  offended,  it  is 
wrong.  And  they  will  see  the  wrong  when  they  understand 
the  truth.  The  time  is  coming  when  truth  and  error,  and 
right  and  wrong  will  be  distinguished  the  one  from  the 
other.  And  when  that  time  comes,  those  who  have  loved 
darkness  rather  than  light  because  their  deeds  are  evil,  will 
approve  the  right  and  condemn  the  wrong,  though  it  may 
be  condemning  themselves.  And  if  we  love  the  truth,  and 
are  born  of  the  truth,  and  have  a  conscience  in  harmony 
with  the  truth,  and  live  with  a  conscience  void  of  offense 
toward  God  and  toward  man,  there  will  be  no  condemna- 
tion. And  it  is  the  great  object  of  the  Christian  to  have  a 
good  conscience,  and  to  so  live  that  his  conscience  does  not 
condemn  him. 

But  there  are  duties  to  be  performed  to  God  as  well  as 
man.  Some  people's  religion  (if  I  may  call  it  religion — 
some  people's  moralit}')  is  to  do  right  to  their  fellow-men. 
We  may  be  charitably  inclined,  and  we  may  be  honest,  and 
with  this  may  be  satisfied  and  feel  no  condemnation.  But 
when  the  word  of  God  will  be  fully  opened,  then  you  will  find 
that  you  will  owe  duties  to  God  as  well  as  to  your  fellow- 
men.  Thenj^our  conscience  will  realize  that  it  is  wrong.  It 
will  arise  in  its  might,  in  its  divinity,  in  all  its  power,  and 
then  you  will  feel  it.  Felix  trembled  before  Paul  when  he 
preached,  and  if  he  never  repented  he  will  tremble  worse 
in  judgment.  "I  exercise  m3'self,  to  have  alwaj^s  a  con- 
science void  of  offense  toward  God,  and  toward  men."  This 
is  as  much  as  to  say,  "  I  want  to  tell  Tertullus,  I  want  to 
tell  Felix,  that  my  Christianity  is  a  Christianity  that 
responds  to  all  the  just  claims  upon  me,  whether  they  come 
from  heaven  or  from  men."  Paul  says,  "I  must  deny  the 
charges.  I  deny  that  I  wanted  to  spread  sedition.  My 
soul  shudders  at  it.     My  Christianity  is  different  from  that. 


100  SERMONS  GP" 

It  is  the  purpose  of  my  life,  most  noble  Felix,  to  do  right 
to  everybody ;  to  accept  of  right  in  its  purest  sense  ;  to 
accept  of  right  as  heaven  has  measured  it,  and  as  it  has  been 
implanted  in  my  Christian  conscience."  This  is  the  Chris- 
tian code  of  right.  Our  grand  aim  in  life  is  to  do  right  to 
God  and  man.  I  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  Scripture 
has  presented  duty  to  us  in  a  two-fold  aspect.  In  the  Dec- 
alogue, the  first  four  commands  have  reference  to  man's 
duty  tofiod,  and  the  remaining  six  have  reference  to  his 
duty  to  men.  "We  are  to  love  God.  We  are  not  to  worship 
any  graven  image.  "  Thou  shalt  not  take  the  name  of  the 
Lord  in  vain — remember  the  Sabbath  day  to  keep  it  holy." 
These  have  reference  to  man's  duty  to  God.  The  rest  of  the 
commands  have  reference  to  his  duties  to  men.  "  Honor 
thy  father  and  mother ;  thou  shalt  not  kill ;  thou  shalt  not 
commit  adultery  ;  thou  shalt  not  steal ;  thou  shalt  not  bear 
false  witness ;  thou  shalt  not  covet."  Thus  all  through  the 
Scripture  is  the  fact  recognized  that  we  owe  duties  to  God 
and  to  men.  When  the  Savior  was  asked  what  is  the  first 
great  commandment,  he  said,  "  Love  thy  God  with  all  thy 
heart,  with  all  thy  soul,  with  all  thy  mind,  and  with  all  thy 
strength."  The  second  is,  "Love  thy  neighbor  as  th3'-self. 
Upon  these  two  commandments  hang  all  the  law  and  the 
prophets."  Here  all  religion  concentrates — upon  our  love 
and  duty  to  God,  and  upon  our  love  and  duty  to  man. 
Paul  recognized  it.  We  will  find  it  running  through 
the  whole  system  of  divine  truth — doing  right  to  God 
and  to  our  fellow-men.  To  have  a  conscience  void  of 
offense,  we  must  worship  God ;  we  must  honor  him ;  we 
must  obey  him ;  we  must  not  take  his  name  in  vain  ;  we 
must  reverence  him ;  we  must  demean  ourselves  to  him,  as 
he  desires  we  should.  As  far  as  our  duties  to  men  are  con- 
cerned, we  should  never  harm  anybody,  nor  defraud  any- 
body, nor  slander  anybody,  nor  wound  or  grieve  the  feel- 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTER.  101 

ings  of  anj'body,  nor  do  anything  to  encourage  any  one  to 
do  wrong.  And,  further,  we  are  not  only  to  avoid  doing 
wrong  to  others,  but  we  are  to  do  good  to  them.  In  their 
endeavors  to  get  rich,  we  sometimes  see  persons  do  unjust 
acts.  How  wrong  it  is  !  Whenever  we  do  any  one  injustice, 
we  should  make  restoration.  When  Zaccheus,  who  climbed 
a  tree  to  see  the  Savior  pass,  came  down  and  talked  to  the 
Savior,  he  said,  "  If  I  have  taken  anything  from  any  man 
by  false  accusation,  I  restore  him  four-fold."  That  is  what 
we  should  all  do.  That  is  justice,  that  is  right.  If  we  have 
done  wrong,  we  must  make  amends  for  it.  We  read  in 
1  Samuel,  xii.  4,  that  when  Samuel  was  about  to  die,  he  met 
his  people,  and  said  unto  them,  "  Whose  ox  have  I  taken  ?  or 
whose  ass  have  I  taken  ?  or  whom  have  I  defrauded  ?  whom 
have  I  oppressed  ?  or  of  whose  hand  have  I  received  any 
bribe  to  blind  my  eyes  therewith  ?  and  I  will  restore  it. 
The  Lord  is  witness  against  you,  and  his  anointed  this 
day,  that  ye  have  not  found  aught  in  my  hand.  And  they 
answered  and  said.  He  is  witness."  Death  must  come  to  us 
all,  as  it  did  to  Samuel,  to  preachers,  to  teachers,  young  and 
old,  men  and  women.  We  shall  have  to  leave  our  charges 
and  our  schools.  Let  us  try,  then,  to  live  with  a  conscience 
void  of  offense  towards  men,  that  we  can  feel  as  Samuel 
felt  towards  his  people.  This  is  the  meaning  of  the  apostle. 
Secondly.  The  great  work  of  a  Christian  life.  "  Herein 
do  I  exercise  myself,  always  to  have  a  conscience  void  of 
offense  toward  God,  and  toward  men."  This  holy  and 
desirable  state  can  not  be  attained  without  great  and  con- 
stant labor.  It  is  to  be  attained  by  exercise,  by  practice. 
Such  is  the  meaning  of  the  apostle,  when  he  says,  "  herein  do 
I  exercise  myself."  It  means  that  he  applied  himself  to  this 
work  of  righteousness  with  great  care  and  diligence.  He 
did  as  Solomon  admonishes  when  he  says,  "Whatsoever  thy 
hand  findeth  to  do,  do  it  with  thy  might." — Eccles.  ix.  10. 


102  SERMONS   OF  • 

And  if  we  would  attain  to  that  state  of  faithfulness  and 
holy  living  in  which  we  will  have  a  conscience  void  of  offense 
toward  God  and  man,  we  must  be  careful  to  understand  our 
duty.  And  to  do  this  w^e  must  diligently,  prayerfully,  and 
candidly  search  the  Scriptures.  This  is  one  way  we  are  to 
exercise.  We  are  to  exercise  our  judgments  in  discriminat- 
ing between  truth  and  error,  and  guard  against  calling  good 
evil  and  evil  good.  The  name  disciple.,  applied  to  us,  implies 
w^e  should  be  learners,  scholars  in  the  school  of  Christ,  and 
learning  of  him  our  duty  as  he  has  taught  it.  And  when 
we  have  learned  our  duty  we  must  be  true  and  honest  to 
ourselves  and  to  our  convictions,  and  carefully  perform  it. 
All  this  requires  exercise  and  work.  And  we  must  make 
this  our  great  and  principle  work  if  we  would  succeed  in 
attaining  unto  a  life  of  Christian  faithfulness,  which  implies 
faithfulness  to  men  and  faithfulness  to  God. 

In  the  last  place,  I  will  notice  the  considerations  which 
prompt  Christians  to  labor  to  live  such  a  life  as  they  are 
aiming  for,  and  which  they  are  endeavoring  to  reach.  The 
first  and  best  reason  there  is  to  justify  and  require  such  a 
course  of  faithful  living,  is  the  simple  reason  that  it  is  right, 
or  in  accordance  with  the  will  of  God,  and  that  he  requires 
such  a  life  of  us.  This  ought  to  be  a  powerful  reason,  a 
sufficient  reason,  a  controlling  and  influential  reason.  But, 
as  another  reason  why  we  should  exercise  ourselves  to  live 
with  a  conscience  void  of  offense,  we  should  consider  what 
the  result  will  be,  first,  if  we  do  not  so  live,  and,  secondly, 
what  the  result  will  be  if  we  do.  And,  first,  if  we  do  not 
possess  a  conscience  void  of  offense,  we  shall  possess  one 
that  will  condemn  us.  A  conscience  we  have,  and  sooner  or 
later,  we  shall  feel  its  power  in  approving  or  condemning. 
And  a  condemning  conscience  is  a  most  dreadful  companion 
to  have  always  Avith  us.  This  is  the  worm  that  never  dies, 
and  the  fire  that  is  never  quenched.      It  is  a  spring  of  sor- 


ELDER  JAMES  QUINTER.  103 

row,  pain  and  suffering,  opened  in  the  most  sensitive  and 
tender  part  of  our  nature,  from  which  the  tears  of  anguish 
will  How.  We  have  many  instances  of  the  terrible  workings 
of  a  guilty  conscience.  Felix  and  Belshazzar  trembled  even 
here.  What  will  they  do  if  those  guilty  consciences  go  with 
them  into  eternity  ? 

But  if  we  succeed,  and  nothing  can  hinder  if  we  make 
the  proper  efforts,  in  securing  a  conscience  void  of  offense^  we 
secure  to  ourselves  a  source  of  never-failing  enjoyment.  We 
carry  in  our  own  bosoms  a  spring,  which  is  supplied  from 
the  heavenly  hills  with  the  purest  joys,  and  which  will 
always  and  forever  refresh  us  with  its  healthy  and  life-giv- 
ing waters. 

Now  I  have  set  before  you  the  high  aim  of  the  Christian. 
My  Christian  hearers,  remember  this  is  the  aim  of  your  pro- 
fession, to  live,  "always  with  a  conscience  void  of  offense 
toward  God,  and  toward  men."  Let  this  be  your  aim,  and 
may  you  reach  it.  And  my  unconverted  hearers,  what  do 
you  think  of  our  aim  and  end  ?  You  can  not  but  approve 
of  them.  Then  unite  yourselves  to  the  people  who  are  pur- 
suing these  commendable  objects. 


III. 
THE  FAMILY  OF  CHRIST. 

"  While  he  yet  talked  to  the  people,  behold  his  mother 
and  his  brethren  stood  without,  desiring  to  speak  with  him. 

"  Then  one  said  unto  him.  Behold,  thy  mother  and  thy 
brethren  stand  without,  desiring  to  speak  with  thee.  But 
he  answered  and  said  unto  him  that  told  him,  Who  is  my 
mother?  and  who  are  my  brethren  ?  And  he  stretched  forth 
his  hand  toward  his  disciples,  and  said,  behold  ray  mother 


104  SERMONS    OF 

and  m}^  brethren  ?  For  whosoever  shall  do  the  will  of  my 
Father  which  is  in  heaven,  the  same  is  my  brother,  and  sis- 
ter, and  mother." — Matt,  xii,  46-50. 

The  family  of  Christ. — The  family  of  which  he  is  the 
head,  the  proper  representative,  the  father.  In  the  ninth 
chapter  of  Isaiah  there  is  a  beautiful  prophecy,  in  regard  to 
Christ.  In  this  prophecy  are  the  following  words :  "  For 
unto  us  a  child  is  born  ;  unto  us  a  son  is  given  ;  and  the  gov- 
ernment shall  be  upon  his  shoulder;  and  his  name  shall  be 
called  Wonderful,  Counsellor,  the  mighty  God,  the  ever- 
lasting Father,  the  Prince  of  Peace."  This  prophecy  which 
refers  to  Christ,  has,  among  other  terms,  that  of  the  "Ever- 
lasting Father."  Some  of  our  translations  of  this  passage 
read  it,  " The  Father  of  the  everlasting  age."  By  "ever- 
lasting age  "  is  understood  to  mean  the  age  of  the  Gospel. 
Of  this  he  may  with  propriety  be  said  to  be  the  father.  The 
apostle  Paul  calls  him  "  theauthorand  finisher  of  our  faith." 
— Heb.  xii.  2.  The  marginal  reading  has  "  beginner  "  instead 
of  author.  We  may  comprise  in  the  family  of  Christ, 
the  faithful  of  all  ages.  He  sustains  various  relations  to 
his  family.  He  sustains  the  relation  of  a  father  to  his  disci- 
ples, and  he  feels  toward  them  all  the  tender  feelings,  and 
affection,  that  the  kindest  father  feels  toward  his  children. 
''  Children,"  said  he,  addressing  them  on  one  occasion,  "  have 
ye  any  meat?" — John  xxi.  5.  On  another  occasion  he  said 
to  them, "  Little  children  yet  a  little  while  I  am  with  you." 
— John  xiii.  33.  He  is  likewise  the  "  first  born  "  and  "  elder 
brother"  in  the  great  family  of  the  faithful. 

The  family  of  Christ  is  a  divine  family . — It  is  a  divine 
family  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  it  is  principally 
made  up  of  human  beings.  We  may  call  it  a  divine  family 
because  the  divine  element  predominates  in  the  characters  of 
its  members  when  they  become  proper  subjects  for  member- 
ship. The  human  element  enters  into  their  character,  but 
the   divine   element    jircdominates.     This    family   may   be 


ELDER   JAMES   QUINTEK.  105 

called  a  divine  family,  oecause  the  members  of  it  have  been 
born  of  God.  They  have  experienced  a  second  birth.  The 
Saviour  said  to  Nicodemus,  "  Except  a  man  be  born  again, 
he  can  not  see  the  kingdom  of  God,"  or,  as  we  have  it  in  the 
marginal  reading,  "  Except  a  man  be  born  from  above,  he 
can  not  see  the  kingdom  of  God."  In  order  to  make  this 
truth  more  plain  when  he  perceived  that  Nicodemus  did  not 
understand  it,  for  it  was  very  important  that  he  should 
understand  it,  as  he  was  deeply  and  personally  interested  in 
it,  he  said,  "  Except  a  man  be  born  of  water  and  of  the 
Spirit,  he  can  not  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God  ; "  he  can 
not  enter  into  the  family  of  Christ ;  he  can  not  be  a  member 
of  the  Church  of  Christ. 

In  the  first  chapter  of  John,  we  have  this  language  : 
"  He  came  unto  his  own,  but  his  own  received  him  not. 
But  as  many  as  received  him,  to  them  gave  he  power  to 
become  tiie  sons  of  God,  even  to  them  that  believe  on  his 
name,  which  were  born,  not  of  blood,  nor  of  the  will  of  the 
flesh,  nor  of  the  will  of  man,  but  of  God."  Notice  these 
words,  "  To  them  gave  he  power  to  become  the  sons  of 
God."  In  these  words  and  the  following  ones,  is  presented 
to  us  the  divine  birth  of  all  the  members  of  the  divine 
family  of  Christ. 

Of  the  same  import  is  the  passage  in  1  Peter,  i.  23. 
Peter  is  speaking  of  believers,  and  says  in  reference  to  their 
new  birth,  "Being  born  again,  not  of  corruptible  seed,  but 
of  incorruptible,  by  the  word  of  God,  which  liveth  and 
abideth  forever."  Here  we  have  believers  born  of  the  word 
of  God.  Our  Lord  taught  Nicodemus  that  he  must  be 
"  born  of  water  and  of  the  Spirit."  Being  "  born  of  the 
word  of  the  Lord,"  and  being  "  born  of  water  and  of  the 
Spirit,"  are  different  ways  of  stating  the  same  great  truth. 
The  word  of  the  Lord,  or  the  Gospel,  requires  the  sinner  to 
be  baptized  in  water,  and  be  born  of  the  Spirit,  in  order  to 


106  SEEMONS    OF 

become  right.  And  when  the  Gospel  is  received  and  believed 
as  the  word  of  God,  and  prompts  the  sinner  to  repent  and 
to  be  baptized,  and  to  live  a  new  life,  he  may  be  said  to  be 
born  "  by  the  word  of  God."  And  this  is  equivalent  to 
being  "  born  of  the  water  and  of  the  Spirit."  To  be  born 
of  the  water,  no  doubt  embraces  in  it  the  idea  of  baptism, 
though  something  more  than  the  immersion  itself  is  meant. 

And  when  we  are  "  born  from  above,"  or  "  born  of  the 
water  and  of  the  Spirit,"  or  "  born  b\'  the  word  of  God," 
then  according  to  2  Peter  i.  4,  we  are  made  "  partakers  of 
the  divine  nature,"  or  of  the  divine  character,  which  is  one 
of  the  distinguishing  features  of  the  family  of  Christ.  And 
being  partakers  of  the  divine  nature,  Ave  will  act  in  harmony 
with  the  divine  nature.  Hence  the  language  of  Christ  in 
the  text,  "  Whosoever  shall  do  the  will  of  my  Father  which 
i^  in  heaven,  the  same  is  my  brother,  and  sister,  and 
mother."  Or  as  we  have  our  Lord's  language  as  given  by 
St.  Luke :  "  And  he  answered  and  said  unto  them,  my 
mother  and  brethren  are  these  which  hear  the  word  of  God, 
and  do  it."  The  meaning  of  these  passages  is  the  same. 
According  to  St.  Matthew,  our  Lord  makes  the  doing  of  his 
Father's  will  a  test  of  membership  in  his  family.  While, 
according  to  St.  Luke,  he  makes  that  test  the  hearing  and 
doing  of  the  word  of  God.  But  as  the  word  of  God  is  the 
expression  of  his  will,  the  import  of  the  two  passages  is  the 
same. 

There  seems  to  me  to  be  no  greater  absurdity  than  to  sup- 
pose that  we  can  truly  be  born  of  God,  and  yet  not  be  anx- 
ious and  willing  to  do  his  will.  Such  a  thing  can  not  be.  If 
we  are  born  of  God,  born  from  above,  and  born  of  the  word 
of  God,  that  word  will  be  dear  to  us.  We  will  have  a  rever- 
ence and  a  regard  for  it  which  will  prompt  us  to  obey  it. 

The  family  of  Christ  is  a  royal  fatnily. — "  Ye  are  a 
chosen  generation,  a  royal  priesthood,"  says  St.  Peter,  when 


ELDE-K  JAMES  QUINTER.  107 

addressing  the  famil}'  of  Christ.  1  Peter  ii.  9.  "Unto 
him  that  loved  us,"  exclaims  St.  John  the  divine,  ''and 
washed  us  from  our  sins  in  his  own  blood,  and  hath  made 
us  kings  and  priests  unto  God,  and  his  Father ;  to  him  be 
glory  and  dominion  for  ever  and  ever." — Rev.  i.  5,  6.  John 
is  one  of  the  royal  family  of  Christ,  and  speaks  not  of  him- 
self only,  but  of  the  honor  which  all  the  saints  have,  and 
declares  they  are  made  "  kings  and  priests  unto  God."  And 
he  appreciates  the  glory  and  blessedness  of  the  exalted 
calling,  and  his  indebtedness  to  the  Redeemer  for  confer- 
ring such  honor,  and  in  the  gratefulness  of  his  exulting  heart, 
exclaims,  "  To  him  be  glory  and  dominion  forever  and  ever. 
Amen."  Christians  then  are  of  a  roval  line,  and  belong-  to 
the  royal  house  of  the  King  of  kings,  and  in  due  time  we 
shall  receive  "a  crown  of  glory  that  fadeth  not  away." — 
1  Peter  v.  4. 

Alexander  Pope  says,  "  An  honest  man's  the  noblest 
work  of  God."  I  do  not  know  whether  he  meant 
by  an  honest  man,  one  who  is  strictly  honest  in  all 
his  dealings  with  his  fellow-man.  This  perhaps  is  what 
he  meant.  But  if  his  idea  of  honesty  went  no  farther 
than  that  principle  of  justice  which  leads  men  to  be  just  to 
one  another,  then  such  a  man  is  not  the  "  noblest  work  of 
God."  However  noble  such  a  man  may  be,  he  has  his  supe- 
rior in  the  Christian.  For  he  is  not  only  honest  to  his 
fellow-men,  but  he  is  also  honest  to  his  God.  When  the 
Pharisees  were  trying  to  find  a  cause  by  which  they  might 
prejudice  the  government  against  the  Lord,  he  asked  for  a 
government  coin.  And  when  it  was  brought,  "  he  saith  unto 
them,  whose  is  this  image  and  superscription  ?  They  say 
unto  him,  Caesar's.  Then  saith  he  unto  them,  Render  there- 
fore unto  Cgesar  the  things  which  are  Ccesar's;  and  unto  God 
the  things  that  are  God's." — Matt.  xxii.  20,  21.  Here  is 
honesty  of  the  highest  type  inculcated,  and  it  is  enjoined 


108  SERMONS   OF 

upon  the  members  of  the  family  of  Christ.  And  by  the 
sincere  and  consistent  members  of  this  family  it  is  carried 
out,  and  when  carried  out  it  produces  the  noblest  of  charac- 
ters—  the  Christian  character.  And  "a  Christian  is  the 
highest  type  of  a  man,"  and  a  Christian  character  the  per- 
fection of  man's  character. 

Young  students,  you  may  be  successful  in  your  studies. 
You  may  succeed  in  receiving  high  titles,  you  may  have  the 
title  of  A.  M.,  LL.D.,  or  D.  D.,  offered  to  you.  These  are  all 
honorable  and  high  titles,  and  may  add  worldly  honor  to  you, 
but,  my  young  brethren  and  sisters,  if  you  are  worthy  mem- 
bers of  the  family  of  Christ,  if  you  are  worth}^  of  the  name 
Christian,  you  will  find  that  there  is  more  in  that  name  than 
there  is  in  all  the  honorable  titles  which  the  world  can  heap 
upon  you.  Nothing  can  be  compared  to  the  title  of  Chris- 
tian—  one  like  Christ,  one  born  from  above,  born  of  God; 
a  holy  man,  kind,  true,  and  just  in  all  his  principles,  and 
faithful  in  all  his  duties. 

The  family  of  Christ  is  a  numerous  family.  It  "is  true, 
since  man's  apostasy,  the  majority  in  every  age  of  the  world 
have  been  strangers  to  God,  and  not  members  of  the  divine 
family.  Our  Lord  said:  "Enter  ye  in  at  the  strait  gate: 
for  Avide  is  the  gate,  and  broad  is  the  wa}^,  that  leadeth  to 
destruction,  and  many  there  be  which  go  in  thereat :  because 
strait  is  the  gate  and  narrow  is  the  way  which  leadeth  unto 
life,  and  few  there  be  that  find  it."— Matt.  vii.  13,  14.  This 
is  a  representation  of  our  race  that  is  by  no  means  honorable 
to  it.  Still  when  all  the  good,  and  true,  and  faithful  of  all 
ages  and  of  all  countries  are  brought  together  around  the 
throne  of  God,  they  will  constitute  a  numerous  family.  St. 
John  says,  "  I  beheld,  and,  lo,  a  great  multitude,  which  no 
man  could  number,  of  all  nations,  and  kindreds,  and  people, 
and  tongues,  stood  before  the  throne,  and  before  the  Lamb, 
clothed  with  white  robes,  and  palms   in  their  hands,  and 


ELDER   .TAMES   QUlNTER.  109 

cried  with  a  loud  voice,  saying,  Salvation  to  our  God  which 
sitteth  upon  the  throne,  and  unto  the  Lamb." — Rev.  vii.  9, 
10.  This  multitude  belonged  to  the  famih'  of  Christ.  While 
many  refuse  salvation,  many  accept  of  it.  This  is  a  great 
company.  It  is  pleasant  to  think  that  so  many  Avill  have 
been  faithful,  and  will  in  clue  time  be  manifest  as  the  result 
of  the  redeeming  work  of  him  that  "gave  his  life  a  ransom 
for  many." 

The  family  of  Christ  is  a  rich  family.  In  the  eyes  of  the 
world  many  of  them  may  be  poor.  Many  of  the  members 
of  this  family  may  have  been  among  the  poorer  ones  of  this 
world.  Nevertheless  they  are  wealthy.  Paul,  in  his  first 
epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  iii.  21-23,  says,  "  Therefore  let  no 
man  glory  in  men ;  for  all  things  are  yours ;  Whether  Paul, 
or  Apollos,  or  Cephas,  or  the  world,  or  life,  or  death,  or 
things  present,  or  things  to  come ;  all  are  yours  ;  And  ye  are 
Christ's  ;  and  Christ  is  God's." 

Let  us  look  at  the  expression,  "Whether  Paul,  or  Apol- 
los, or  Cephas."  These  men  were  all  preachers.  They  are 
part  of  tlje  family  of  Christ,  and  members  of  the  Church. 
We  have  them  in  their  lives  and  in  their  ministrv^  We 
have  the  Bible.  We  have  the  services  of  the  sanctuary. 
We  have  our  pleasant  meetings  together,  and  the  world,  and 
life,  and  death,  and  things  present,  and  things  to  come.  We 
have  the  use  and  enjoyment  of  all  these  to  a  degree  and  in  a 
sense,  which  the  wicked  have  not.  Christians  make  the 
world  their  servant  and  not  their  god,  and  hence  they  enjoy 
it  as  far  as  there  is  enjoyment  in  it.  May  I  not  then  say  that 
we  are  a  rich  family  ? 

The  prince  of  darkness  is  represented  to  be  reigning  over 
this  world.  The  world  has  been  taken  away  from  God  and 
his  people  by  wicked  princes,  wicked  men,  and  devils.  The 
time  is  coming  when  this  world  will  be  taken  away  from 
Satan  and  be  given  to  us.     Hence,  the  language  of  Jesus, 


110  SERMONS   OF 

"  Blessed  are  the  meek,  for  they  shall  inherit  the  earth." 
We  have  within  the  last  few  weeks  heard  of  the  Springer 
law  suit  in  regard  to  the  city  of  Wilmington,  Delaware. 
Baron  Springer  received  a  grant  for  a  large  body  of  land  in 
Delaware.  He  did  not  occupy  it  in  any  way  and  others  got 
possession  of  it.  His  heirs  are  now  trying  to  recover  it.  The 
property  may  be  theirs,  and  it  may  not.  If  it  is  recovered, 
it  will  be  a  great  disappointment  to  many,  though  it  may 
please  those  who  get  it.  Property  is  often  held  bv  those 
who  are  not  the  proper  owners.  So  it  is  in  regard  to  the 
world.  ''The  earth  is  the  Lord's  and  the  fullness  thereof: 
the  world,  and  they  that  dwell  therein."  Ps.  xxiv.  1.  "And 
all  these  possessions  have  been  given  to  Christ." — Johnxiii.  3. 
His  claims  then  are  strictly  lawful,  and  in  due  time  he  will 
assert  his  right.  "And  the  seventh  angel  sounded;  and 
there  were  great  voices  in  heaven,  saying,  the  kingdoms  of 
this  world  are  becoming  the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord,  and  of 
his  Christ;  and  he  shall  reign  forever  and  ever." — Eev.  xi. 
15.  And  as  all  the  members  of  Christ's  family  are  joint 
heirs  with  him  (Rom.  viii.  7),  they  too  shall  possess  the 
earth  and  reign  with  him. 

The  family  of  Christ  is  a  loving  family.  Love  is  the 
badge  of  membership  in  this  family.  "  By  this,"  said  Jesus, 
"shall  all  men  know  ye  are  my  disciples,  if  ye  have  love  one 
to  another." — John  xiii.  35.  And  John  says,  "We  know 
that  we  have  passed  from  death  unto  life,  because  we  love 
the  brethren.  He  that  loveth  not  his  brother  abideth  in 
death." — 1  John  iii.  14.  And  the  love  with  which  we  are  to 
love  one  another,  is  to  be  fervent  love.  St.  Peter  says,  "See- 
ing ye  have  purified  your  souls  in  obeying  the  truth  through 
the  Spirit  unto  unfeigned  love  of  the  brethren,  see  that  ye 
love  one  another  with  a  pure  heart  fervently." — 1  Peter  i. 
22.  As  love  is  such  a  prominent  element  in  Christian  life 
and  character,  we  have  its  manifestation  in  many  Christian 


ELDER    JAMES    QL  INTER.  Ill 

practices.  The  Christian  form  of  salutation  is  a  symbol  of 
love.  "Greet  ye  one  another  with  a  kiss  of  charity." — 
1  Peter  V.  14.  Here  is  a  manifestation  of  affection.  The 
"feast  of  charity,"  Jude  12th  verse,  the  Christian  family 
meal  that  Christians  eat  together  in  brotherly  love,  also 
manifest  their  love  as  the  name  of  the  feast  indicates.  And 
as  it  is  said  of  the  Saviour,  by  St.  John,  when  he  was  about 
washing  the  feet  of  his  disciples,  that,  "having  loved  his 
own  which  were  in  the  world,  he  loved  them  unto  the  end." 
— John  xiii.  1.  It  is  evident  that  what  he  did,  when  he 
stooped  to  wash  the  feet  of  his  disciples  was  both  the  result 
and  manifestation  of  the  love  which  he  had  to  his  disciples. 
So  when  they  wash  one  another's  feet  they  show  their  love 
to  one  another. 

Such  being  the  love  that  Christians  are  to  feel  to  one 
another,  and  such  being  the  love  that  they  have  to  one 
another,  how  inconsistent  it  is  for  Christians  to  strive  with 
one  another,  to  go  to  law  with  one  another,  and  to  kill  one 
another!  The  apostle  Paul,  when  he  reproved  the  Corinth- 
ian brethren  for  going  to  law  with  one  another,  says,  "  Now 
therefore  there  is  a  fault  among  you,  because  ye  go  to  law 
one  with  another.  Why  do  ye  not  rather  take  wrong?" — 
1  Cor.  vi.  7.  And  how  strange  it  is  that  with  all  that  is 
said  about  brotherly  love  in  the  Gospel,  that  any  who  pro- 
fess to  believe  and  practice  the  Gospel,  should  believe  that 
Christians  may  without  sin  kill  one  another,  and  yet  there 
are  those  who  believe  it !  Those  who  believe  that  Chris- 
tians may  go  to  war,  believe  also  that  Christians  may  kill 
one  another,  for  in  wars  in  which  nations  professing  Chris- 
tianity are  engaged,  professing  Christians  are  brought  into 
conflict  with  one  another,  and,  consequently,  may  kill  one 
another.  But  surely  in  such  cases  there  must  be  a  want  of 
genuine  Christian  love. 

The  family  of  Christ  is  a  scattered  family.     The  apostle 


112  SERMONS     OF 

Paul,  when  speakino^  of  the  name  of  the  family  of  Christ, 
says  :  "  For  this  cause  I  bow  my  knees  unto  the  Father  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  of  whom  the  whole  family  in  heaven 
and  on  earth  is  named." — Eph,  iii.  14, 15.  Here  one  part  of 
the  family  is  represented  to  be  in  heaven,  while  the  other 
part  is  on  earth.  For  it  is  only  one  family,  yet  it  is  both  in 
heaven  and  on  earth.  Those  on  earth  at  this  time  who  do 
the  will  of  God,  are  members  of  Christ's  family.  But  many 
of  the  same  class  who  once  lived  on  earth,  live  here  no  more. 
They  are  now  in  heaven.  But  they  still  belong  to  Christ's 
famil3^  We  sometimes  mourn  for  our  pious  dead  that  have 
left  us.  But  we  should  remember  that  they  are  "  not  lost  but 
only  gone  before ; "  that  the  ties  which  bound  us  together 
are  not  broken,  but  still  exist;  that  we  are  still  members  of 
the  same  family,  and  only  separated  by  death ;  that  when 
death  is  destroyed,  the  saints  of  all  ages  and  all  places  will 
again  meet. 

There  loill  he  a  final  gathering  of  all  the  me7nhers  of  the 
family  of  Christ.  The  apostle  Paul,  in  the  same  epistle  in 
which  he  represents  the  family  of  Christ  to  be  scattered, 
also  refers  to  a  time  when  there  will  be  a  glorious  gathering 
together  of  all  the  scattered  members  of  this  great  family. 
In  speaking  of  what  God  has  done  for  his  people,  he  says : 
"  Having  made  known  unto  us  the  mystery  of  his  will, 
according  to  his  good  pleasure  which  he  hath  purposed  in 
himself:  that  in  the  dispensation  of  the  fulness  of  times  he 
might  gather  together  in  one  all  things  in  Christ,  both  which 
are  in  heaven,  and  which  are  in  earth ;  even  in  him." — Eph. 
i.  9,  10.  Then  all  are  to  be  gathered  together.  The  thought 
is  full  of  comfort,  and  the  prospect  is  animating.  Our 
sainted  fathers,  mothers,  brothers,  sisters,  children  and 
friends  that  have  passed  over,  w^ill  meet  us  and  greet  us  on 
the  other  shore.  Then  will  our  joy  be  full,  and  uninter- 
rupted and  perpetual  as  well  as  full. 


ELDER  JAMES  QUINTER.  113 

Dear  Christian  brethren,  let  us  not  forget  the  royal  char- 
acter of  the  family  to  which  we  belong.  Let  us  honor  our 
family.  And  my  unconverted  friends,  what  do  you  think 
of  the  family  of  Christ?  Do  you  not  think  it  is  an  interest- 
ing family,  and  a  very  happy  family  ?  It  surely  is.  Would  you 
not  like  to  become  a  member  of  it  ?  You  may  by  receiving 
Christ. 


.  lY. 
QUE  CONTINUAL  NEED  OF  CHRIST. 

"As  ye  have  therefore  received  Christ  Jesus  the  Lord, 
so  walk  ye  in  him. 

"  Rooted  and  built  up  in  him,  and  stablished  in  the  faith, 
as  ye  have  been  taught,  abounding  therein  with  thanks- 
giving."— Col.  ii.  6,  7. 

The  apostle  opens  this  chapter  with  this  expressive  and 
peculiar  language:  "  For  I  would  that  ye  knew  what  great 
conflict  1  have  for  you,  and  for  them  at  Laodicea,  and  for  as 
many  as  have  not  seen  my  face  in  the  flesh."  What  great 
conflict  does  Paul  refer  to  ?  It  was  a  conflict  of  mind  and  a 
distress  of  feelings.  From  what  source  did  it  arise  ?  It  was 
because  he  was  afraid  that  the  brethren  to  whom  he  referred, 
might  not  continue  faithful  in  the  good  work  which  they 
had  commenced.  The  same  feeling  causes  trouble  and  con- 
cern on  the  part  of  many  ministers  and  servants  of  God. 
We  have  an  interest  in  the  spiritual  welfare  of  our  fellow- 
men.  We  are  trying  to  bring  all  those,  over  whom  we  can 
exert  an  influence,  to  Christ.  Our  first  concern  is  to  get 
them  converted,  reformed,  and  made  ready  for  a  better 
world — to  fi'et  them  to  abandon  their  errors  and  receive  the 


114  SERMONS   OF 

truth,  to  quit  the  work  of  sin,  and  engage  in  the  service  of 
God.  Is  the  mind  of  the  preacher  reUeved  of  all  anxiety 
and  care  when  the  sinner  is  converted  ?  Ah  !  there  is  con- 
cern still !  From  the  fact  that  we  are  in  a  world  of  tempa- 
tion,  in  a  world  of  pride,  in  a  world  of  error,  in  a  world 
where  the  Prince  of  darkness  holds  sway — there  must  be 
concern.  We  are  sorry  to  be  compelled  to  acknowledge  it, 
but  it  is  true,  that  this  is  a  world  in  which  error  and  dark- 
ness have  control,  rather  than  heavenly  truth  and  heavenly 
principle.  Such  is  the  fact  and  we  can  never  lose  our  feel- 
ing of  concern  for  our  friends  as  long  as  they  remain  in  the 
world.  When  their  course  of  life  is  finished  and  we  bear 
them  to  the  grave,  although  we  feel  great  sorrow  and  our 
hearts  are  sad,  yet  if  we  can  believe  that  they  died  in  Christ, 
our  concern  is  over,  and  we  are  relieved.  We  know  that 
they  have  gone  to  a  world  where  there  will  be  no  temptation. 
The  preacher  feels  for  his  people  while  they  are  in  this 
world.  The  Christian  father  cares  and  watches  over  his 
children  to  protect  them  from  temptation.  We  feel  for  one 
another.  That  was  Paul's  conflict.  That  is  the  conflict  of 
all  preachers.  I  might  say  to  you,  "I  would  that  ye  knew 
the  great  conflict  I  have  for  you.  I  would  that  ye  knew  the 
trouble  and  anxiety  which  I  have  lest  ye  do  wrong  and 
wander  away  from  Christ  in  ways  of  wickedness.  Such  was 
Paul's  concern  ;  and  with  such  feeling  he  used  the  words  of 
my  text,  "  As  ye  have  received  Christ  Jesus  the  Lord,  so 
walk  ye  in  him."  They  had  received  Christ,  and  he  was 
anxious  that  they  should  continue  to  walk  in  him.  This 
confirms  what  I  have  just  stated  in  regard  to  our  concern. 

I  will  present  what  I  have  to  say  under  two  leading 
thoughts  and  make  the  application  as  best  I  can.  The 
thoughts  are  these — First,  Our  need  of  Christ.  And,  sec- 
ondl}^,  The  continuation  of  that  need. 

First,  Our  need  of  Christ.     Our  text  says,  "  As  ye  have 


ELDER   .JAMES    QUINTEK.  115 

therefore  received  Christ  Jesus  the  Lord."  This  would 
imply  that  these  brethren  at  Colosse  had  received  Jesus 
Christ.  They  received  him  because  they  knew  they  had 
need  of  him.  They  received  him  because  they  knew  that 
they  could  not  be  saved  in  any  other  way.  From  these 
remarks  I  make  the  observation  that  we  all  have  need  of 
Christ.  Religion  is  not  the  development  and  growth  of 
some  innate  and  natural  principle  within  us.  The  smallest 
child  in  the  room,  the  little  babe  in  the  mother's  arms,  has 
within  it  the  elements  of  manhood  or  womanhood.  It  is 
true,  that  it  may  need  nourishment  to  develop  the  man  or 
woman,  but  it  has  the  elements  within  it.  But,  we  want 
some  additional  element  which  we  have  not  to  enable  us  to 
form  the  true  Christian  character.  None  of  us  who  are 
Christians  had  all  the  elements  of  Christianity  within  us 
before  we  became  Christians. 

I  say  to  the  unconverted  man  and  woman,  you  do  not 
have  all  the  elements  of  a  Christian  character  within.  No 
matter  from  what  family  you  may  have  sprung,  no  matter 
what  your  natural  temperament  may  have  been,  no  matter 
what  may  have  been  your  surroundings,  no  matter  how  pure 
your  life  has  been  from  wicked  desires,  no  matter  how  excel- 
lent your  moral  character,  to  form  a  genuine  Christian 
character  there  must  be  an  additional  element.  You  must 
have  Christ  in  you  before  such  a  character  can  be  found. 
The  Christian  character  consists  in  two  things :  First,  in 
removal  of  sin,  and  second!}^,  the  presence  of  a  divine  prin- 
ciple within  us.  The  removal  of  the  wrong  is  necessary.  I 
am  afraid  that  right  here  we  are  apt  to  fall  into  the  error  of 
giving  our  Christianity  a  negative  character  only.  Many 
are  too  apt  to  look  at  it  only  as  the  absence  of  evil.  I  want 
to  disabuse  your  minds  of  that  error.  I  tell  you,  my  Chris- 
tian friends,  and  brethren,  that  Christianity  does  not  consist 
alone  in  a  negative  character,   that   is,  in   an   absence   of 


116  SEKMONS   OF 

wrong.  There  is  a  positive  side  to  Christianity  as  well  as  a 
negative  one.  While  it  is  our  duty  and  a  part  of  the  Chris- 
tian life  to  abstain  from  even  "  the  appearance  of  evil," 
while  it  is  our  duty  to  deny  ourselves  of  all  "  ungodliness  ar.d 
worldly  lusts,"  it  is  no  less  our  duty  to  "  live  soberly,  right- 
eously and  godly."  We  must  not  only  "cease  to  do  evil," 
but  we  must  also  "  learn  to  do  well." 

These  Colossian  brethren  had  received  Christ,  as  many 
of  us  have  done.  Jesus  is  the  Saviour  that  we  need.  He 
pardons  our  sins,  takes  away  the  wrongs  that  we  have  done. 
However  numerous  these  wrongs  have  been,  however  hein- 
ous in  their  character,  he  takes  them  all  away.  Our  lives 
are  made  free  from  guilt,  and  we  enjoy  the  happiness  of  the 
Christian.  This  is  the  condition  of  the  heart  that  has  been 
washed  in  the  blood  of  Jesus.  The  heart  is  now  clean,  pure 
and  white.  The  heart  now  becomes  the  tablet  upon  which 
the  divine  commandments  are  written  according  to  the  lan- 
guage of  Solomon:  "Keep  my  commandments  and  live; 
and  my  law  as  the  apple  of  thine  eye.  Bind  them  upon  thy 
fingers,  write  them  upon  the  table  of  thine  heart." — Prov. 
vii.  2,  3.  We  are  living  under  the  circumstances  alluded  to  by 
the  Apostle  Paul,  when  he  saj's,  referring  to  what  God  will 
do  for  his  people,  "  I  will  put  my  laws  into  their  mind,  and 
Avrite  them  in  their  hearts,  and  I  will  be  to  them  a  God,  and 
they  shall  be  to  me  a  people." — Heb,  viii.  10.  The  carrying 
out  of  these  laws  constitute  the  positive  character  of  the 
Christian.  Our  hearts  which  were  once  evil,  are  emptied  of 
evil  and  filled  up  with  what  is  good.  Our  members  which 
were  servants  of  unrighteousness  and  wickedness,  now 
become  servants  of  holiness.  We  leave  the  service  of  Satan 
and  enter  the  service  of  God.  We  are  dedicated  and  conse- 
crated to  God. 

I  come  now  to  the  next  point  that  is  implied  in  the  lan- 
guage of  the  text :     "  As  ye  have  therefore  received  Christ 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTER.  117 

Jesus  the  Lord,  so  walk  ye  in  him :  Kooted  and  built  up  in 
him,  and  stablished  in  the  faith  as  ye  have  been  taught» 
abounding  therein  with  thanksgiving."  Paul  here  uses 
three  metaphors.  I  have  already  spoken  of  the  anxiety 
which  he  felt  for  his  brethren.  He  therefore  uses  figure 
after  figure  to  impress  his  meaning  more  firmly  upon  their 
minds.  He  uses  metaphors  here  to  present  the  life  of  the 
Christian  after  Christ  has  been  received  into  the  heart. 

First,  walk  is  used,  "  walk  in  him."  Second,  the  figure 
of  growth  is  used,  "  rooted  in  him."  Third,  the  figure  of  a 
building  is  used,  "  built  up  in  him."  The  meaning  of  these 
figures  is  plain.  From  the  first  we  learn  there  must  be 
action  and  progress,  for  such  "  walk  "  implies.  The  second 
indicates  life  and  growth.  The  third  implies  stability. 
Various  principles  enter  into  and  form  the  Christian  life. 

We  receive  Christ.  He  bears  our  sins  away.  We  then 
become  as  little  children.  The  work  that  we  are  now  to  do 
is  to  form  a  Christian  character.  This  is  to  be  the  work 
after  we  have  received  Christ,  received  him  in  the  pardon 
of  our  sins,  received  him  in  the  incipient  stages  of  the  work 
to  be  done.  We  are  then  to  walk  in  him,  grow  in  him,  build 
in  him. 

These  truths  lead  us  to  the  next  thought,  that  we  are 
to  continue  in  Christ.  It  is  not  enough  that  the  sin- 
ner seeks  him,  and  then  feels  because  his  sins  are  forgiven 
that  Christ  is  not  needed  anymore.  • 

This  meaning  of  the  text  is  that  we  are  never  done  with 
Christ.  We  must  walk  in  him,  be  rooted  and  built  up  in 
him.  The  roots  or  fibers  of  our  life  must  sink  deep  into 
Christ.  These  fibers  are  to  multiply  and  become  stronger ; 
the  branches  are  to  spread  out  and  bear  fruit  abundantly  to 
the  glory  and  honor  of  God.  The  tree  consists  of  two  parts, 
the  part  below,  and  the  part  above  ground.  So  one  part 
of  our  Christian  character  must  bring  the  nourishment  from 


118  SERMONS    OF 

Christ,  and  the  other  show  the  fruits  to  the  world.  Lay  the 
foundation  of  this  noble  structure  which  we  are  building, 
deep  in  Christ.  Let  it  go  on  to  maturity.  "  Add  to  your 
faith  virtue ;  and  to  virtue,  knowledge  ;  and  to  knowledge, 
temperance  ;  and  to  temperance,  patience  ;  and  to  patience, 
godliness  ;  and  to  godhness,  brotherly  kindness ;  and  to 
brotherly  kindness,  charity." — 2  Peter  i.  5-7. 

"  As  ye  have  therefore  received  Christ  Jesus  the  Lord,  so 
walk  ye  in  him."  Do  not  wander  out  of  the  way.  If  3'ou 
walk  in  him  there  is  no  danger.  Do  not  feel,  however,  that 
because  you  have  received  him,  you  do  not  need  him  any 
more.  Do  not  feel  because  you  have  3'our  name  registered 
among  the  members  of  some  Christian  church,  that  you  are 
safe.  "  As  ye  have  received  Christ  Jesus  the  Lord,  so  walk 
ye  in  him." 

I  have  been  nearl}^  half  a  century  in  the  service  of  God. 
But  I  feel  that  I  need  Christ  quite  as  much  now  as  I  did 
when  I  entered  into  the  holy  covenant  with  him.  We  can 
never  do  without  him.  Let  our  circumstances  be  what  they 
may,  let  our  locations  be  where  they  may,  3'et  we  must  have 
the  support  of  Christ.  While  our  circumstances  here  in 
Huntingdon  may  not  be  the  best  in  the  world,  yet  we  think 
that  they  are  favorable.  But  do  not,  my  brother  and  sister, 
allow  the  thought  to  enter  }^our  minds,  that  because  j^ou  are 
thus  surrounded  by  Christian  associations  and  companions, 
that  you  dt)  not  need  the  help  of  the  Saviour.  Although  you 
have  friends  around  you  to  help  3'ou,  and  brethren  to  pray 
for  3'ou,  3'^et  3'ou  need  Christ.  As  3^ou  have  received  Christ 
in  hoh'^  baptism  when  you  entered  into  the  hol3^  life,  so  walk 
in  him.  Whether  3'ou  are  here  in  Huntingdon,  or  anywhere 
else,  you  must  have  Christ.  Remember  that  yuu  must  seek 
him  daily.  Avail  yourselves  of  the  means  of  grace  which 
he  has  provided.  As  3^ou  have  need  of  Christ,  so  walk  in 
him.     This  walking  in  Christ  refers  to  action  and  conduct. 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTEK.  119 

Walking  in  Christ  means  walking  after  Christ's  example, 
walking  as  Christ  walked,  walking  in  sympath}?  with  Christ. 
Walking  in  Christ  implies  an  identification  with  Christ's 
ends,  principles  and  purposes.  It  means  walking  in  the  path 
which  he  has  marked  out  for  us.  "  And  wdiosoever  doth  not 
take  up  his  cross,  and  come  after  me,  can  not  be  ray  disci- 
ple." Luke  xiv.  27.  Then  we  are  to  walk  in  Christ,  bear- 
ing the  cross. 

"  Rooted  in  Christ."  What  does  that  mean  ?  It  means 
planted  in  Christ,  Paul,  in  the  sixth  chapter  of  his  Epistle 
to  the  Romans,  says :  "  For  if  w^e  have  been  planted  together 
in  the  likeness  of  his  death,  we  shall  also  be  in  the  likeness 
of  his  resurrection."  Paul  is  alluding  to  the  subject  of  bap- 
tism, and  speaks  about  being  buried  with  Christ,  and  then 
makes  use  of  the  expression  quoted.  This  has  reference  to 
Christians  who  have  received  Christ.  That  is  the  planting. 
We  are  regarded  as  trees  having  our  roots  in  Christ,  or  as 
branches  grafted  into  Christ.  This  passage  stands  in  close 
connection  with  another  which  I  will  quote:  "Know  ye 
not,  that  so  many  of  us  as  were  baptized  into  Jesus  Christ 
were  baptized  into  his  death?" — Rom.  vi.3.  What  does  this 
mean,  "baptized  into  his  death?"  I  understand  that  by 
being  baptized  into  his  death,  we  are  baptized  into  the 
fruits  of  that  death,  into  the  merits  of  that  death.  I  quote  a 
sirailarpassage  that  is  a  little  more  expressive  in  its  meaning: 
"  For  as  many  of  you  as  have  been  baptized  into  Christ  have 
put  on  Christ."— Gal.  iii.  27.  The  passage  in  Romans  says, 
"  into  his  death."  We  may  regard  the  other  as  explaining 
this,  makingit  mean  into  Christ.  I  think  that  the  meaning  of 
the  two  passages  is  this :  Paul  is  talking  about  planting. 
In  our  profession  of  Christianity,  we  become  planted  in 
Christ.  Baptism  in  connection  wnth  repentance  and  faith, 
brings  us  into  Christ.  We  are  then  planted  in  him,  or  rooted 
in  him.    The  plant  is  tender  and  must  be  protected  and 


120  SERMONS   OF 

nourished.  Spring  is  now  coming,  when  we  transplant  trees 
and  shrubbery.  Some  of  the  plants  may  have  very  small 
fibres ;  many  of  these  may  be  injured  in  transplanting, 
but  as  long  as  there  is  life,  the  plant  may  grow  if  planted  in 
good  soil.  The  fibers  will  draw  nourishment  from  the 
earth.  It  will  become  larger  and  larger;  its  branches  will 
become  more  and  more  fruitful.  So  we  are  planted  in  Christ. 
The  soil  is  not  wanting  in  fertility.  Our  spiritual  soil  is 
rich  and  will  sustain  us  if  we  but  send  our  roots  abroad. 
You  cannot  grow  unless  you  are  planted  in  that  soil.  Take 
the  most  excellent  plant  that  you  can  find  in  our  nurseries, 
plant  it  upon  some  of  these  pine  ridges.  Will  it  bring  forth 
fruit  ?  No ;  it  must  be  planted  in  soil  that  will  develop  it. 
So  it  is  with  human  nature.  It  will  never  bring  forth  any 
good  fruit  until  it  is  planted  in  Christ.  If  it  is  planted 
there,  it  will  bring  forth  godly  manhood  and  womanhood. 

In  order  to  become  good,  you  must  receive  Christ.  You 
can  not  become  good  in  any  other  way.  "  There  is  none 
other  name  under  heaven  given  among  men  whereby  we 
must  be  saved." — Acts  iv.  12.  I  urge  you  to  receive  him. 
He  will  be  your  helper  and  your  Saviour.  No  matter  how 
far  you  have  wandered  away  from  him,  he  will  lead  you 
back. 

In  the  second  place,  let  us  all  be  careful  to  Vi^alk  in 
Christ.  It  should  be  a  joy  to  us  to  know  that  we  can  walk 
in  him.  While  we  are  walking  in  him,  we  are  walking  safely. 
Christian  brother  and  sister,  we  have  received  Christ,  are 
we  walking  in  him  ?  So  the  apostle  in  our  text  admonishes 
us  to  do. 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTER.  121 

V. 

BLESSINGS  LOST  IF  NOT  IMPROVED. 

"  Take  heed  therefore  how  ye  hear :  for  whosoever  hath, 
to  him  shall  be  given;  and  whosoever  hath  not,  from  him 
shall  be  taken  even  that  which  he  seemeth  to  have." — Luke 
viii.  18. 

The  difficulty  often  presents  itself  to  thoughtful  men  and 
women,  how  can  that  which  he  has  not  be  taken  away  from 
him  ?  Can  anything  be  taken  away  from  a  man  which  he 
has  not  in  his  possession  ?  This  can  not  be  done.  It  is  an 
impossibility.  You  can  not  take  from  a  person  that  which 
he  has  not,  but  he  may  have  other  things  which  may  be 
taken  away  from  him 

I  will  call  your  attention  to  the  different  kinds  of  the 
blessings  of  God.  We  may  divide  these  blessings  into  two 
classes ;  those  of  a  universal  character,  and  those  of  a  special 
or  limited  character.  First,  the  blessings  of  God  of  a  com- 
mon or  universal  character.  The  Saviour  in  his  sermon 
upon  the  mountain,  you  will  remember,  said  to  his  disciples : 
"  Your  Father  maketh  his  sun  to  rise  on  the  evil  and  on  the 
good,  and  sendeth  rain  on  the  just  and  the  unjust."  This 
blessing  of  rain,  and  the  blessing  of  sunshine  are  very  gen- 
eral, and  common  blessings.  They  are  not  confined  to  any 
class  of  characters.  They  are  not  confined  to  the  good,  but 
are  conferred  upon  the  evil  as  well  as  the  good.  What  the 
Saviour  said  of  the  rain  and  the  sunlight  may  be  said  of 
a  good  many  other  things.  Many  other  things  may  be 
included  in  the  catalogue  of  the  common  or  universal  bless- 
ings which  the  bountiful  hand  of  heaven  showers  upon  us 
irrespective  of  character.  The  first  that  I  will  notice  will  be 
the  blessings  of  Divine  revelation — as  we  have  it  in  the 
sacred  Scriptures.  This  embraces  a  knowledge  of  God  and 
of  our  dutv. 


122  -  SERMONS    OF 

While  God  has  left  the  principles  of  science  to  be  searched 
out,  discovered  and  applied  by  men,  he  has  not  done  so  with 
moral  science,  and  with  the  principles  of  religious  truth. 
Science  is  of  God.  The  origin  of  many  of  our  sciences  is 
with  God.  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  Kepler,  or  any  other  astron- 
omer did  not  originate  astronomy.  God  originated  it. 
Astronomy  is  coeval  with  the  formation  of  the  earth  and 
the  heavenly  bodies.  By  the  exercise  of  the  philosophic 
and  searching  minds  of  such  men,  the  principles  of  astron- 
omy were  discovered.  These  principles  have  been  reduced 
to  the  science  which  some  of  you  have  been  studying.  God 
did  not  disclose  these  principles.  He  left  that  for  men  to  do. 
God  established,  and  men  discovered.  God  connected  these 
principles  with  the  heavenly  bodies  at  the  time  when  they 
were  formed,  and  men  have  discovered  these,  and  reduced 
them  to  a  system.  Euclid,  the  great  geometrician,  did  not 
make  the  laws  of  geometry.  They  are  coeval  with  the 
existence  of  matter  itself.  Euclid  systematized  these  prin- 
ciples, brought  them  down  to  the  form  which  they  now 
have  in  geometry.  He  reduced  these  principles  to  a  system, 
but  the  principles  themselves  existed  long  before  Euclid. 

But  how  Avas  it  with  the  religous  truths  in  which  you 
and  I,  as  moral  men  and  women,  are  most  deeply  and  univers- 
ally concerned?  God  did  not  leave  these  to  be  discovered 
by  men.  In  my  sermon  last  week,  I  told  you  about  the 
dreams  and  errors  of  men.  Had  God  left  men  to  discover 
these  laws,  what  confusion,  contradiction,  and  darkness 
would  have  been  the  result !  "We  would  have  very  conflict- 
ing views  in  regard  to  our  moral  duty.  But  God  himself 
has  given  us  the  religious  truths  which  it  is  important  that 
we  should  know.  He  has  brought  these  principles  out  and 
written  them  in  his  word.  This  is  a  free  gift  that  God  has 
placed  within  the  reach  of  all.  Divine  revelation  is  as  free 
as  the  sunshine  ;  it  is  as  free  as  the  refreshing  showers  that 


ELDER    JAMES    QUINTER.  123 

fall ;  it  is  as  free  as  the  atmosphere  that  we  breathe.  It  is 
given  to  all,  without  money  and  without  price. 

Another  blessing  of  God,  closely  connected  with  the  gift 
of  revelation,  is  the  gift  of  the  Christian  ministry.  Paul,  in 
the  4th  chapter  of  Ephesians,  in  speaking  of  the  gift  of 
Christ  and  of  the  gifts  which  were  thus  secured  for  us,  says: 
"And  he  gave  some  apostles;  and  some,  prophets;  and 
some,  evangelists  ;  and  some,  pastors  and  teachers."  Now 
notice  the  reason,  "  for  the  perfecting  of  the  saints,  for  the 
work  of  the  ministry,  for  the  edifying  of  the  body  of  Christ." 
"What  a  blessed  thought  that  these  are  designed  for  the 
edification  of  the  body  of  Christ.  The  Saviour  gave  certain 
ofBcial  characters  to  do  the  work  of  the  ministry.  What  is 
the  work  of  the  ministry  ?  The  work  of  the  ministry  is  to 
preach  the  Gospel,  explaining  and  applying  ii  to  the  various 
wants  of  the  people ;  to  administer  the  ordinances  of  the 
Gospel  as  the  people  may  require  them.  It  is  the  duty 
of  the  minister  of  Christ  to  teach  the  religion  of  Christ, 
to  make  it  plain,  clear,  and  at  the  same  time  attractive,  and 
to  give  it  that  form  which  will  present  Christ  as  the  Saviour 
to  sinners.  Who  have  the  benefits  of  the  work  of  the 
ministry  ?  All  classes  of  people  can  receive  the  benefits  of 
its  work.  You  are  all  welcome,  my  unconverted  friends,  you 
are  as  welcome  to  this  place  as  the  members  of  our  Chris- 
tian community.  We  welcome  you  all.  We  like  to  see  you 
with  us. 

And  as  the  Gospel  is  free,  and  its  offers  of  mercy  and 
salvation  are  made  to  all,  if  men  and  women  who  live  where 
the  Gospel  is  preached  are  not  instructed  and  saved,  the 
fault  is  theirs.  If  men  prefer  the  saloon  and  other  places  of 
carnal  enjoyment,  to  the  sanctuary,  and  remain  ignorant 
and  guilty,  they  must  blame  themselves  for  it.  The  sanct- 
uary is  open  for  them,  and  they  have  access  to  the  benefits 
of  the  ministrv. 


124  SERlVfONS   OF 

The  Christian  Sabbath,  I  prefer  to  call  it  the  Lord's  day, 
is  a  gift  of  God,  Some  of  you  may  doubt  the  propriety  of 
my  applying  to  the  Lord's  day  what  God  said  of  the  Jew- 
ish Sabbath  when  he  spoke  by  his  prophet  Ezekiel.  "  I 
have  given  them  my  Sabbath.'' — Ez.  xx.  12.  It  was  a 
blessed  gift.  God  gave  it  to  man  that  men  and  brutes 
might  rest  from  labor.  It  was  also  given  to  men  for  their 
religious  and  spiritual  improvement.  God  said:  "I  have 
given  them  my  Sabbath."  I  think  we  may  apply  the  lan- 
guage to  our  Sabbath,  as  it  was  used  with  reference  to  the 
ancient  Sabbath.  God  has  given  us  the  Christian  Sab- 
bath. If  it  has  not  been  given  to  us  with  all  the 
formality  that  surrounded  the  gift  of  the  ancient  Sab- 
bath, yet  it  was  unquestionably  given  to  us.  The  early 
practice  of  the  Church  as  given  in  the  New  Testament, 
and  the  practice  since  that  time,  gives  us  every  reason 
to  believe  that  the  change  from  the  seventh  to  the  first  day 
of  the  week  meets  God's  approbation,  "We  are  only  carry- 
ing out  his  laws  when  we  set  apart  one  day  out  of  sevem 
for  our  moral  and  spiritual  improvement.  I  regard  the 
Christian  Sabbath  as  a  gift  of  God.  "When  Saturday  even- 
ing comes,  we  give  up  our  labor,  fix  up  our  houses,  and  pre- 
pare for  the  Christian  Sabbath,  the  day  on  which  we  come 
together  as  we  did  this  morning  to  sing  and  pray,  to 
teach  and  to  be  taught,  and  to  gather  up  the  crumbs  of 
truth,  that  we  may  be  better  prepared  to  go  out  and  meet 
the  difficulties  and  trials  of  the  week.  Value  the  Lord's  day. 
It  is  God's  blessing  given  unto  us. 

God  has  given  us  time  and  opportunity  to  prepare  to 
meet  him,  time  and  opportunity  to  work  out  our  salvation. 
That  is  a  blessing  which  is  given  to  all.  If  we  had  a  census 
of  our  country  to-day,  we  would  find  in  the  statistics  of  our 
people  that  God  has,  as  a  general  thing,  given  as  long  life  to 
the  ungodly  as  to  the  godly.      There  are  a  good  many  old 


ELDER  JAMES  QUINTER.  125 

men  and  women  who  are  out  of  Christ,  and  who  are  living 
out  of  the  Church.  Many  of  them  are  Mty,  sixty,  or  sev- 
enty years  old.  Where  did  they  get  that  time?  God  gave 
unto  them.  They  had  time  and  opportunity  to  repent  and 
make  their  peace  with  Goc^.  If  any  unconverted  man  or 
woman  should  be  called  to-day  to  the  judgment  bar  of 
Christ,  could  he  or  she  say,  "  I  did  not  have  time  to  pre- 
pare "  ?  This  could  not  be  said.  God  is  giving  all  time  to 
co_ne  to  Christ.  The  sinner  has  as  long  a  time  to  live  as  the 
Christian.  Life  is  theirs  to  enjoy.  God  permits  them  to 
live.  What  has  been  the  point?  God's  universal,  or  com- 
mon blessings  which  are  bestowed,  irrespective  of  character 
and  moral  condition.  Among  these  we  have  referred  to 
revelation,  the  Lord's  day,  the  ministry,  and  time  and  oppor- 
tunity. God  has  given  these  to  all.  He  has  given  us  these 
that  we  may  use  them  so  that  we  may  serve  him.  My 
unconverted  friend,  he  has  given  these  to  \'ou  as  well  as  to 
any  one  of  us  who  are  trying  to  be  Christians. 

Some  of  God's  blessings  are  limited  to  a  number.  What 
are  some  of  these  blessings  ?  I  remark  that  repentance  is 
one  of  God's  gifts  which  is  limited.  I  refer  to  repentance 
as  a  gift  because  it  is  so  spoken  of  in  the  Scriptures  :  "  Him 
hath  God  exalted  with  his  right  hand  to  be  a  Prince  and  a 
Saviour,  for  to  give  repentance  to  Israel,  and  the  forgiveness 
of  sins." — Acts  v.  31.  In  the  11th  chapter  of  the  Acts,  18th 
verse,  Peter  is  preaching  to  the  Gentiles  at  the  house  of  Cor- 
nelius. The  following  words  are  found:  "  When  the^v  heard 
these  things,  they  held  their  peace,  and  glorified  God,  say- 
ing, Then  hath  God  also  to  the  Gentiles  granted  repentance." 
Repentance  is  here  spoken  of  as  a  gift.  This  is  a  gift  in  a 
certain  sense. 

Now  we  begin  to  make  a  distinction  between  persons  in 
regard  to  these  gifts.  I  have  been  speaking  to  you  all.  IS'ow 
I  must  make  a  distinction. 


2  3  SERMONS   OF 

This  gift  of  repentance  is  limited  to  a  certain  number. 
I  will  now  read  the  text  as  I  think  the  sense  requires  it  to  be 
read.  It  is  one  of  those  texts  in  which  there  is  a  good  deal 
more  implied  than  tliere  is  expressed.  "  Take  heed,  there- 
fore, how  ye  hear  :  for  whosoever  hath  Divine  revelation, 
the  Christian  ministry,  the  Lord's  day,  and  tlie  necessar}' 
time  to  work  out  his  salvation,  cfnd  improve  these  blessings, 
shall  have  given  to  him,  repentance,  pardon,  salvation  and 
heaven.  The  receiving  of  the  special  or  limited  blessings 
does  not  depend  upon  God's  fore-ordination,  but  upon  man's 
improvement  of  what  we  have  called  God's  general  or  com- 
mon blessings.  These  blessings,  duly  improved,  lead  to  salva- 
tion. Hence,  Paul's  language,  "  the  goodness  of  God  lead- 
eth  thee  to  repentance.'' — Rom.  ii.  4.  "  But  whosoever  hath 
not,  from  him  shall  be  taken  even  that  which  he  seemeth  to 
have."  Tlmt  is,  whosoever  hath  not  properly  used  and  duly 
improved  God's  common  blessings,  even  these  shall  be  taken 
from  him.  Such,  unquestionably,  is  the  meaning  of  tlie 
Saviour,  in  his  words  we  are  using  as  our  text. 

The  limited  or  special  blessings  are  properly  gifts  of 
God.  They  grow  out  of  the  blessings  which  he  gives  to  alL 
Repentance  is  an  indirect  gift  of  God.  It  grows  out  of 
God's  gifts.  Belief  implies  knowledge.  You  can  not  believp 
unless  you  have  something  to  believe.  You  must  believe 
that  Christ  is  the  Son  of  God,  that  God  is  the  ruler  of  the 
universe  ;  that  we  exist  in  a  guilty  and  lost  condition  ;  that 
salvation  is  obtained  only  from  Christ.  You  can  receive 
this  knowledge  only  through  Divine  revelation.  Dwelling 
seriously,  thoughtfully,  prayerfully  upon  these  thoughts,  the 
mind  will  be  roused  to  a  state  of  conviction,  and  if  this  con- 
viction is  properly  followed  up,  it  will  lead  to  conversion. 
And  thus  it  is  that  to  him  that  hath  more  shall  be  given. 
And  even  after  a  man  becomes  converted  and  becomes  a 
Christian  he  shall  still  receive  more,  if  he  is   faithful  and 


ELDER   JAMES   QUINTER.  127 

improves  his  talents.  Christians  will  never  be  done  receiv- 
ing. Neither  will  what  they  now  have  be  taken  from  them. 
They  will  continue  to  enjoy  them  in  a  certain  sense.  The 
ministry  will  not  be  taken  from  us.  It  will  be  given  to  us 
under  better  circumstances.  We  will  listen  in  holy  rapture  to 
the  explanation  of  the  purposes  and  plans  of  God.  We  Avill 
sit  at  the  feet  of  those  whom  We  regard  as  our  instructors. 
The  Sabbath  rest  will  not  be  taken  from  us.  We  now  have 
one  day  out  of  seven  ;  then,  all  our  days  will  be  days  of  rest. 
Our  time  will  be  taken  away,  but  it  will  be  swallowed  up  in 
eternity — an  eternity  of  enjoyment.  We  may  not  have  the 
blessed  Bible  in  heaven  ;  we  will  not  need  it  there;  we  will 
have  its  laws  and  principles  written  upon  the  hearts  and 
minds  of  those  who  will  be  there.  We  will  dwell  in  rapture 
upon  the  knowledge  and  information  we  will  receive. 

But,  my  unconverted  friends,  neglect  salvation,  neglect 
religion,  and  you  will  go  where  the  Bible  is  not.  You  will 
be  cast  into  outer  darkness,  where  there  will  be  none  of 
God's  blessings.  You  will  go  where  there  is  no  Lord's  day. 
"  There  is  no  rest,  saith  my  God,  for  the  wicked."  It  will  be 
one  uninterrupted  scene  of  confusion  and  distress.  Life  will 
be  taken  from  3'ou.  Opportunity  to  become  better  will  be 
taken  away  from  you.  You  will  not  be  able  to  attend  church 
any  more.  "Take  heed,  therefore,  how  ye  hear;  for  who- 
soever hath,  to  him  shall  be  given  ;  and  whosoever  haJth  not, 
from  him  shall  be  taken  even  that  which  he  hath."  Improve 
the  present,  or  else  these  blessings  which  God  has  given  you 
will  be  taken  away  and  you  will  live  in  utter  destitution  of 
all  those  comforts  which  you  now  have.  The  condition  of 
the  lost  is  one  of  extreme  want.  The  rich  man  in  hell  could 
not  get  a  drop  of  water.  The  condition  of  the  righteous  is 
one  of  fullness.  "  Blessed  are  they  which  do  hunger  and 
thirst  after  righteousness  ;  for  they  shall  be  filled." 


128  SERMONS   OF 

YI. 

A  TEST  OF  DISCIPLESHIR 

"And  there  went  great  multitudes  with  him;  and  he 
turned  and  said  unto  them : 

"  If  any  man  come  to  me,  and  hate  not  his  father,  and 
mother,  and  wife,  and  children,  and  brethren  and  sisters, 
yea,  and  his  own  life  also,  he  can  not  be  ray  disciple." — Luke 
xiv.  25,  26. 

Ever}'  passage  of  Scripture  must  be  so  explained  as  to 
not  contradict  any  other  passage.  Every  passage  of  Scrip- 
ture must  be  explained  in  harmony  with  the  general  tenor 
of  divine  truth  as  we  have  it  in  the  Bible.  Looking  at  this 
text,  according  to  these  principles,  we  must  get  the  mean- 
ing of  hate  as  it  was  used  at  the  time  in  which  the  passage 
was  written.  This  text  is  an  idiom  of  the  Hebrew  lan- 
guaige.  By  this  we  mean  a  peculiarity  of  the  language. 
This  idiom  is  a  peculiarity,  not  only  of  the  Hebrew,  but  of 
every  Eastern  language,  more  or  less.  That  idiom  is  this: 
When  two  things  are  compared  between  which  there  is  a 
great  difference,  the  less  one  is  regarded  as  nothing.  In  the 
40tk  chapter  of  Isaiah,  17th  verse,  you  will  find  a  confirma- 
tion of  this  view.  God  himself  is  there  compared  to  nations, 
or  to  things  of  a  worldly  character.  It  is  said  in  the  passage, 
"All  nations  before  him  are  as  nothing;  and  they  are 
counted  to  him  less  than  nothing  and  vanity."  Here  is  a 
wonderful  contrast.  The  infinitude  of  God,  the  grandeur  of 
his  attributes  and  character  are  so  much  more  highly  exalted 
and  lifted  above  all  mundane  or  worldly  and  secular  things, 
that  the  greatness  of  man  is  said  to  be  nothing,  or  less  than 
nothing.  The  same  principle  is  involved  in  ray  text.  I  shall 
explain  ray  text  upon  this  principle. 

The  love  of  the  Christian  heart  to  Christ,  the  Son  of  God, 
who  bled  and  died  for  us,  must  be  so  much  greater  than  the 
love  of  country,  companions,  associates,  and  even  our  own 


ELDER   JAMES   QUINTEE.  129 

Jives,  that  our  love  for  one  another  will  appear  as  hate,  when 
compared  to  the  love  which  we  should  have  for  Christ.  Our 
love  to  Christ  must  be  so  great  that  the  other  will  be  as 
hate.  Tiie  Saviour  uses  the  figure  to  which  I  have  referred 
in  another  passage. 

It  is  this :  "  No  man  can  serve  tw^o  masters :  for  either 
he  will  hate  the  one  and  love  the  other,  or  else  he  will  hold 
to  the  one  and  despise  the  other."  "  Ye  can  not  serve  God 
and  mammon."— Matt.  vi.  24.  He  does  not  say,  because  ye 
must  necessarily  love  one  more  than  the  other,  but  accord- 
ing to  the  figure  of  speech,  Jesus  says,  "  Either  he  will  hate 
the  one  and  love  the  other."  The  meaning  is,  that  when 
he  loves  with  a  less  love,  it  will  be  as  hate.  Instead  of  call- 
ing a  less  love  by  that  name,  he  calls  it  hate.  This  is  the 
way  that  we  are  to  understand  hate  in  the  text. 

We  have  a  very  striking  representation  of  this  in  the 
29th  chapter  of  Genesis,  30,  31  verses.  The  passage  has 
reference  to  the  love  of  Jacob  for  his  wives,  Leah  and  Kachel. 
In  the  30th  verse  we  read,  "And  he  loved  also  Rachel  more 
than  Leah."  He  loved  Leah,  but  he  loved  Rachel  more 
than  he  did  Leah.  In  the  31st  verse,  w^e  find  the  following 
words  :  "  When  the  Lord  saw  that  Leah  was  hated."  The  his- 
torian does  not  say  that  Leah  was  loved  less,  but  that  Rachel 
was  loved  more.  On  this  account,  his  love  for  Leah  was 
compared  to  hate.  Here  we  have  two  things  compared,  and 
because  there  is  considerable  difference  between  them,  one 
is  not  only  represented  as  less,  but  a?  being  of  the  opposite 
character. 

We  may  look  at  Proverbs  xiii.  24  with  profit.  "He that 
spareth  his  rod  hateth  his  son,  but  he  that  loveth  him 
chasteneth  him  betimes."  You  have  often  heard  this  text 
quoted,  but  may  not  have  looked  at  it  as  I  am  now  doing. 
You  conceive  of  two  men  who  have  unruly  boys.  These 
children  are  to  be  corrected.     Solomon  had  punishment  by 


130  SERMONS    OF 

the  use  of  the  rod  before  his  mind.  We  think  that  the  rod 
should  be  avoided  as  much  as  possible,  but  correction  should 
not  be  avoided.  Solomon  has  these  fathers  before  him.  One 
spared  the  rod  and  the  other  used  it.  The  one  that  spares 
the  rod  is  said  to  hate  his  boy.  This  is  an  entirely  new 
doctrine.  We  usually  suppose  that  the  one  that  spares  the 
rod  loves  the  child.  The  doctrine  commonly  held  is  that 
love  spares  the  rod.  We  love  our  children  so  much  that  we 
can  not  correct  them.  Instead  of  love,  Solomon  calls  it  hate. 
It  is  not  the  right  kind  of  love.  The  love  that  will  with- 
hold correction,  and  allow  the  boy  to  begin  to  drink,  smoke, 
swear,  and  begin  habits  that  after  a  while  will  cause  the 
ruin  of  his  body  and  soul,  such  love  is  realh^  hatred.  It  is 
injustice  to  the  boy ;  it  is  injustice  to  the  girl.  When  we 
try  to  correct,  using  such  means  as  may  be  best  suited  to 
promote  the  proper  end  of  discipline,  it  is  not  hate,  but  love 
that  prompts  us.  Sparing  the  child  is  hatred.  When  one 
allows  his  child  to  grow  up  without  correction,  Solomon 
thinks  it  shows  the  want  of  proper  affection,  and  therefore 
calls  it  hate. 

Upon  such  principles  as  the  preceding,  our  text  is  to  be 
explained.  It  sometimes  makes  us  wonder  when  we  read 
passages  like  the  one  quoted  by  Paul  in  Romans  ix.  13.  "As 
it  is  written,  Jacob  have  I  loved,  but  Esau  have  I  hated." 
Can  such  a  merciful  God  hate  one  of  his  creatures?  But 
applying  the  principle  we  have  been  considering,  the  mean- 
ins:  is,  God  loved  Jacob  more  than  he  did  Esau.  He  loves 
his  good  children  more  than  he  does  the  bad  ones.  God 
loves  the  most  ungodfy,  sinful  young  man  in  the  world.  He 
loves  the  giddy,  foolish  young  woman.  He  does  not,  how- 
ever, love  them  as  he  loves  those  who  obey  and  serve  him. 
If  you  come  to  him,  he  will  take  you  to  his  heart,  he  will 
encircle  you  with  his  loving  arms.  If  you  go  on  in  the  way 
of  sin  and  folly,  he  will  finally  condemn  you  to  eternal  pun- 
ishment. 


ELDER   .TAMES    QUINTER.  131 

It  sometimes  seems  a  stumbling  block  to  us  that  God 
would  hate.  But  love  exists  in  different  degrees.  And  you 
will  find,  if  you  consult  Webster,  that  his  second  meaning 
of  hate  is  to  love  less. 

I  will  now  read  this  passage  as  found  in  a  translation  of 
the  Bible  by  Charles  Thompson,  once  secretary  of  the  Amer- 
ican Congress.  ''As  a  great  multitude  were  traveling  Avith 
him,  he  turned  to  them  and  said,  If  any  come  to  me,  and 
doth  not  comparatively  hate  father  and  mother,  and  wife, 
and  children,  and  brothers  and  sisters,  and  even  himself  also, 
he  can  not  be  my  disciple."  That  is  the  idea  which  is  embod- 
ied in  the  text. 

I  regard  the  text  as  equivalent  to  a  corresponding  expres- 
sion of  the  Saviour  found  in  Matt.  x.  37.  It  is  an  equivalent 
of  that  passage :  "  He  that  loveth  father  and  mother  more 
than  me  is  not  worthy  of  me;  and  he  that  loveth  son  or 
daughter  more  than  me  is  not  worthy  of  me."  Here  we 
have  the  same  idea  presented  in  this  passage  that  we  have 
in  the  text. 

These  principles  should  be  used  in  the  interpretation  and 
application  of  various  passages  of  Scripture,  as  they  will  give 
the  proper  meaning  to  many  doubtful  passages. 

The  doctrine  contained  in  the  text  is  this:  The  dis- 
cipleship  of  a  true  disciple  of  Christ  is  conditioned  upon 
our  sttpreme  affection  to  hini.  This  doctrine  is  plainly 
and  positively  taught  in  the  text.  Where  our  love  to 
Christ  is  not  supreme,  there  can  be  no  true  discipleship. 
This  is  the  condition  of  our  entering  the  state  of  true  dis- 
cipleship. The  occasion  upon  which  the  Saviour  used  the 
language  should  not  be  overlooked.  There  was  a  great 
multitude  with  him.  This  is  one  of  the  passages  addressed 
to  the  multitude.  A  great  many  passages  are  addressed  to 
the  disciples.  They,  however,  have  their  application  to  the 
outside  world   as  well.      This   passage  was  addressed   to  a 


132  SERMONS    OF 

great  multitude.  It  was  then  as  it  is  now.  There  were  a 
great  many  people  who  could  not  get  work,  or  who  did  not 
want  work.  Owing  to  some  cause,  there  was  a  scarcity  of 
the  comforts  of  life.  This  want  on  the  part  of  the  multi- 
tude aroused  the  benevolent  feelings  of  Christ.  The  love 
that  caused  him  to  leave  heaven  and  come  down  to  earth  to 
save  man,  could  not  resist  the  distress  of  those  who  followed 
him  ;  he  exercised  his  power  and  performed  miracles.  Out 
of  a  few  loaves  and  fishes  he  produced  plenty.  All  that 
sat  down  were  satisfied.  The  people  were  charmed  with 
his  appearance  and  kindness.  The}"  were  poor.  The  priests, 
and  aristocracy,  and  the  wicked  of  the  world  did  not-see  the 
charms  of  Jesus.  To  them  he  was  a  root  out  of  dry  ground, 
but  the  poor  loved  him.     He  was  a  friend  to  them, 

I  have  often  thought  that  when  the  little  children  were 
brouo-ht  to  him  to  be  blessed,  there  must  have  been  some- 
thino-  in  the  mien  and  appearance  of  Jesus  that  was  attract- 
ive to  them.  Purity  love  and  holiness  nmst  have  shone 
from  his  countenance.  The  people  loved  him  and  many  fol- 
lowed him  from  place  to  place.  From  various  motives  a 
multitude  collected  around  him.  He  then  turned  to  them 
when  he  saw  them  following.  They  may  have  began  to 
think  that  they  were  his  disciples,  because  they  followed 
him  in  his  journey,  and  that  they  were  to  be  counted  among 
his  disciples.  This  may  be  the  way  with  some  of  us  in  the 
church,  especially  in  churches  which  practice  infant  bap- 
tism. They  may  begin  to  think  that  they  are  disciples  of 
Christ  because  they  have  been  in  the  church  a  long  time  and 
have  associated  with  Christians.  But  it  is  not  the  length 
of  time  we  have  been  in  the  church,  or  our  associations  with 
Christians  that  make  us  the  disciples  of  Christ.  And  the 
Saviour  would  disabuse  the  minds  of  an}^  who  received  it,  of 
that  error,  and  so  he  turns  to  the  multitude  and  said  in  sub- 
stance.    "  I  do  not  want  you  to  be  mistaken.     I  know  that 


ELDER   .TAMES    QUINTER.  133 

you  have  been  following  me.  I  know  that  you  regard  me 
as  your  friend.  I  notice  that  you  listened  to  my  discourses 
with  interest.  However,  I  want  to  tell  you  candidly  that 
when  the  crisis  comes,  if  you  love  anything  more  than  you 
do  me  you  can  not  be  my  disciples.  I  want  you  to  remem- 
ber that.  It  is  not  only  following  me  in  person,  but  you 
must  understand  that  you  must  adhere  to  the  truth  when 
persecution  and  the  time  of  trial  comes.  You  must  hold  up 
the  doctrine  when  slander  and  reproach  are  heaped  upon 
you.  You  must  maintain  it  through  love  to  me.  If  you 
can  not  do  this,  I  can  not  recognize  you  as  my  disciple.  You 
must  hate  father  and  mother,  and  wife  and  children,  and 
brethren  and  sisters,  and  your  own  life  also." 

The  discipleship  of  Christ's  disciples  depends  upon  the 
love  which  we  manifest  in  our  lives  for  Christ.  Hence,  the 
passage  which  is  often  quoted  in  which  the  Savior  is  repre- 
senting those  who  knock,  saying,  "  Lord,  Lord,  open  unto 
us."  Jesus  says, "  I  never  knew  you."  That  is,  I  never 
knew  you  as  my  disciple.  I  never  found  you  ready  to  sus- 
in  my  doctrine.  I  never  found  you  in  my  household  of 
faith.  I  never  found  3'ou  in  my  devoted  family,  among  my 
cross-bearing  brethren.  I  do  not  know  you  as  members  of 
the  kingdom  of  God.  The  love  of  Christ  must  be  supreme. 
This  is  the  doctrine  that  we  maintain.  It  is  involved  in  the 
text.     It  isthe  doctrine  which  Jesus  plainly  taught. 

The  claims  which  Christ  has  upon  our  love  are  just.  A 
father's  claims  upon  our  love  are  strong,  so  are  the  mother's. 
A  wife  has  a  strong  claim  upon  her  husband;  a  husband 
has  strong  claims  upon  his  wife.  The  love  of  children 
to  one  another  ought  to  be  strong.  Playing  together  in 
our  childhood,  born  of  the  same  parents,  living  under  the 
same  roof,  should  strengthen  the  ties  of  domestic  love. 
The  love  springing  from  all  these  domestic  relations  is  not 
only  justifiable,  but  it  is  right   and   proper.     When  we  con- 


134  SERMONS    OF 

trast  these  claims  with  those  which  Christ,  the  Son  of  God, 
has  upon  us,  we  find  that  his  claims  are  stronger  than  all. 
Ought  we  not  to  love  him  with  our  best  love  ?  Our  parents 
have  been  kind  to  us.  When  they  die,  they  leave  us  leg- 
acies. Has  not  Christ  done  more  ?  Heaven  is  his  gift.  That 
is  to  be  bestowed  upon  his  disciples.  He  has  given  us  the 
priceless  legacy  of  his  blood.  He  has  supreme  claims  upon 
us,  and  it  is  just  that  he  should  demand  our  supreme  love. 

It  is  possible  to  love  him  in  the  way  in  which  he  wants 
us  to  do.  It  has  been  done.  You  have  read  of  the  martyrs. 
You  have  read  of  the  martyr  Polycarp.  He  was  brought 
before  the  Roman  authority  and  asked  to  renounce  the 
Christian  faith  and  blaspheme  the  Son  of  God.  He  was 
asked  to  swear  by  Csesar.  The  danger  of  being  thrown  to 
the  wild  beasts  was  held  out  to  him.  The  fire  was  spoken 
of  as  the  result  of  his  refusal.  He  said,  "  Eighty  and  six 
years  have  I  served  Christ,  and  he  never  has  done  me  any 
wrong,  I  can  not  deny  him."  He  met  his  fate  as  a  martyr. 
He  hated  his  own  life.  Life  was  pleasant  to  him,  but  when 
it  came  in  comparison  to  his  love  to  Christ,  he  hated  his 
own  life.     It  is  possible  to  have  such  love,  and  it  must  be  had. 

We  should  allow  nothing  to  interfere  with  our  religious 
duties.  I  have  heard  of  a  young  man  who  fell  by  allow- 
ing things  to  come  between  him  and  Christ.  You  may  take 
the  hint.  He  was  a  naember  of  a  church.  He  was  prayer- 
ful and  devoted.  He  married  a  giddy,  irreligious  young 
woman.  She  drew  his  affection  away  from  Christ.  He 
neglected  his  church,  prayer  and  other  religious  duties.  Sick- 
ness came  upon  him.  Eternity  loomed  up  before  him.  Judg- 
ment was  felt  to  be  near  at  hand.  He  turned  to  his  wife, 
to  whose  influence  he  attributed  his  destruction,  and  said, 
"  Rebecca,  Rebecca,  you  are  the  cause  of  my  eternal  damna- 
tion." He  was  drawn  away  by  her  influence.  Instead  of 
loving  Christ  with  a  supreme  love,  he  gave  his  love  to  her. 


ELDER   JAMES   QUINTER.  135 

He  saw  his  terrible  mistake  amid  the  solemnities  of  a  sick- 
chamber  and  in  a  dying  hour.  Young  people,  be  careful, 
and  we  older  ones  should  also  watch.  Let  not  the  love  of 
money,  or  any  thing  else,  draw  us  away  from  Christ.  Remem- 
ber, that  true  discipleship  depends  upon  our  supreme  love  for 
Christ.  You  must  love  Christ  more  than  anything  else.  If 
you  do  this,  you  are  his  disciples  ;  if  you  do  not,  you  can  not 
be.  Let  the  application  be  made  by  those  who  are  members 
of  the  church,  as  well  as  by  others.  Eemember  that  Christ's 
test  of  discipleship  is  supreme  love  to  him. 


VIL 

THE  JUSTIFICATION  OF  CHRIST. 

"And  without  controversy,  great  is  the  mystery  of  god- 
liness :  God  was  manifest  in  the  flesh,  justified  in  the  Spirit, 
seen  of  angels,  preached  unto  the  Gentiles,  believed  on  in 
the  world,  received  up  into  glory." — 1  Tim.  iii.  16. 

This  is  "Whit-Sunday  or  White-Sunday,  the  festival  of  the 
Christian  Church  observed  in  commemoration  of  the  descent 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  on  the  day  of  Pentecost.  It  is  called 
Whit-Sunday,  or,  to  give  it  the  full  name,  "White-Sunday, 
because  it  was  one  of  the  times  in  the  ancient  Church  on 
which  baptism  was  performed.  And  as  a  symbol  of  spiritual 
purity  which  baptism  expressed,  the  candidates  for  the 
sacred  rite  were  clothed  in  white  garments,  hence  the  day 
was  called  White-Sunday.  The  feast  of  Pentecost  was  seven 
weeks  after  the  feast  of  the  Passover,  and  the  descent  of  the 
Spirit  occurring  at  the  feast  of  Pentecost,  Whit-Sunday 
comes  seven  weeks  after  Easter.  The  descent  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  is  a  memorable  event  in  the  history  of  the  Church, 
and  its  anniversaries  may  be  observed  with  profit. 


136  SERMONS    OF 

I  have  selected  my  text  as  an  appropriate  one  for  the 
occasion,  as  it  refers  in  part  at  least  to  the  day  of  Pentecost, 
of  which  this  Lord's  day  is  the  anniversary. 

My  subject  is  the  justification  of  Christ.  The  justifica- 
tion of  the  sinner  is  a  precious  Gospel  doctrine.  To  know 
that  the  sinner,  though  his  crimes  have  been  great  and 
many,  can  be  justified,  is  a  part  of  what  Paul  calls  "the 
excellency  of  tlie  knowledge  of  Christ." — Phil.  iii.  8.  He 
further  says,  "Being  justified  by  faith,  we  have  peace  with 
God,  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ:  by  whom  also  we 
have  access  by  faith  into  this  grace  wherein  we  stand,  and 
rejoice  in  hope  of  the  glory  of  God.  And  not  only  so,  but 
we  glory  in  tribulations  also,  knowing  that  tribulation 
worketh  patience ;  and  patience,  experience ;  and  experience, 
hope;  and  hope  maketh  not  ashamed;  because  the  love  of 
God  is  shed  abroad  in  our  hearts  by  the  Holy  Ghost  which 
is  given  unto  us." — Rom.  v.  1-5.  Here  is  the  precious  fruit 
of  justification.  And  justification,  the  source  of  so  many 
blessings,  is  obtained  through  Christ,  as  Paul  taught  when 
he  said  in  speaking  of  Christ,  "  by  him  all  that  believe  are 
justified  from  all  things,  from  which  ye  could  not  be  justi- 
fied by  the  law  of  Moses." — Acts  xiii.  39.  But  before  sin- 
ners could  be  justified  by  Christ,  it  was  necessary  that  he 
himself  should  be  justified.  His  justification  is  the  ground 
of  ours.  As  we  have  already  seen,  we  are  justified  by 
believing  in  Christ.  But  to  believe  in  him  we  must  have 
confidence  in  his  authority,  in  divinity,  in  his  atonement, 
and  in  everything  pertaining  to  him.  Hence,  the  necessity 
of  his  justification  or  approval.  He  was  "  justified  in  the 
Spirit." 

In  presenting  my  subject,  the  Justification  of  Christy  I 
will  first  notice  his  Condemnation^  and  then  his  Justification. 

First,  his  Condemnation.  It  is  said,  Mark  xiv.  64,  "And 
they   all  condemned   him   to  be  guilty  of  death."     What 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTER.  137 

cruelty,  ignorance,  and  gross  wickedness !  The  holy  Son  of 
God,  condemned  "  to  be  guilty  of  death  !  "  How  much  had 
our  blessed  Lord  to  endure  and  bear  for  us !  And  he  did  it 
without  a  murmur,  though  he  was  innocent.  "  Who  did  no 
sin,  neither  was  guile  found  in  his  mouth  :  who,  when  he 
was  reviled,  reviled  not  again  ;  when  he  suffered,  he  threat- 
ened not;  but  committed  himself  to  him  that  judgeth  right- 
eously: who  his  ownself  bore  our  sins  in  his  own  body  on 
the  tree,  that  we,  being  dead  to  sins,  should  live  unto  right- 
eousness :  by  whose  stripes  ye  were  healed." — 1  Peter  ii. 

22-2J:. 

He  was  condemned,  for  sedition.  "  He  stirreth  up  the 
people,"  said  his  accusers.  Luke  xxiii.  5.  And  because  he 
claimed  to  be  a  king,  his  accusers  construed  that  claim 
interfering  with  Caesar's  honor  and  right.  They  said, 
"  whosoever  maketh  himself  a  kingspeaketh  against  Ccesar." 
— John  xix.  12.  But  this  charge  was  altogether  Avas  false. 
He  sought  not  Caesar's  honor  nor  his  throne.  This  was 
proved  by  the  answer  he  gave  to  them  that  tempted  him, 
and  sought  to  prejudice  the  Roman  authority  against  him. 
"When  they  brought  liim  "a  penny,"  and  he  found  that  it 
had  Caesar's  superscription  upon  it,  he  said,  "Render,  there- 
fore, unto  Ceesar  the  things  which  are  Csesar's." — Matt.  xxii. 
21.  He  sought  not  Csesar's  kingdom,  for  the  kingdom  that 
became  to  establish  was  not  of  this  world. — John  xviii.  36. 
He  came  to  establish  a  kingdom  of  regenerated  subjects. 
Hence  he  taught,  "  Except  a  man  be  born  again,  he  can  not 
see  the  kingdom  of  God  "  (John  iii.  3),  and  "  Except  a  man 
be  born  of  water,  and  of  the  Spirit,  he  cannot  enter  into  the 
kingdom  of  God.  " — John  iii.  5.  Such  are  the  nature  and 
spirituality,  of  the  honors,  privileges,  and  enjoyments  of  the 
kingdom  of  God,  or  of  that  kingdom  which  Christ  came  to 
set  up,  that  the  natural  or  unrenewed  mind  of  man  can  not 
appreciate  or  enjoy  them.     "  The  natural  man  receiveth  not 


138  SERMONS   OF 

the  things  of  the  Spirit  of  God :  for  they  are  foolishness 
unto  him ;  neither  can  he  know  them,  because  they  are  spirt- 
ually  discerned." — 1  Cor.  ii.  14. 

He  was  condemned,  second,  for  blasphemy.  It  was 
blasphemy  in  the  sense  of  arrogating  or  taking  to  himself 
power  that  did  not  belong  to  him.  When  the  man  sick  of 
the  palsy  was  brought  to  him,  he  said,  "  Son,  thy  sins  be  for- 
given thee." — Mark  ii.  5.  Our  Lord  in  this  case  did  not 
examine  the  sick  man  as  physicians  examine  their  patients 
to  know  where  the  disease  was  located,  or  the  nature  of  the 
disease  ;  he  directed  his  attention  to  the  root  of  the  trouble, 
and  this  was  sin.  Hence  he  said,  "  Son,  thy  sins  be  for- 
given thee."  But  the  scribes  said,  "Why  doth  this  man 
speak  blasphemies  ?  who  can  forgive  sins  but  God  only  ? " 
The  scribes  knew  enough  to  know  that  as  sin  is  committed 
against  God,  and  his  law  and  government,  no  authority  less 
than  his  can  pardon  it.  But  they  failed  to  know,  though 
they  had  evidence  enough  to  prove  it  to  them,  that  Christ 
acted  by  the  authority  of  God,  and  hence  he  could  forgive 
sin.  He  arrogated  no  power  to  himself  but  Avhat  was  given 
to  him  by  God,  and  therefore  was  no  blasphemer,  though  he 
pardoned  the  sinner. 

Other  charges  were  made  against  him,  and  he  was 
looked  upon  by  many  of  the  Jews  as  a  malefactor  (John 
xviii.  30),  and  consequently  was  crucified  between  two  crim- 
inals. It  is  not  a  little  strange  that  the  human  mind  can 
become  so  perverted  and  prejudiced  by  sin,  that  truth  and 
argument  lose  their  influence  upon  it,  and  then  it  commits 
the  most  terrible  blunders  and  errors.  The  Jews,  under 
their  bitter  prejudices,  looked  upon  the  Saviour  as  a  root  out 
of  dry  ground,  having  no  form  and  comeliness,  and  con- 
demned him  to  death.  And  the  Gentiles  united  with  the 
Jews  in  the  unjust  condemnation. 

But  God  is  just,  and  justice  and  right   must  have  their 


ELDER  JAMES  QD  INTER.  139 

dues. — The  sentence  of  condemnation  and  death  was  exe- 
cuted upon  the  innocent  Son  of  God  to  its  full  extent,  and 
he  was  crucified  upon  the  cross.  From  this  he  was  taken 
down  and  buried.  But  the  grave  could  not  contain  him, 
and  the  third  day  he  rose  again,  having  conquered  death 
and  the  grave.  In  his  resurrection  he  was  vindicated  and 
justified  by  God,  as  is  declared  by  Peter  in  his  sermon  on 
the  day  of  Pentecost,  saying,  when  speaking  of  Christ, 
"  Whom  God  hath  raised  up  having  loosed  the  pains  of 
death  :  because  it  was  not  possible  that  he  should  be 
holden  of  it."     Acts  ii.  24. 

But  there  was  to  be  another  vindication  and  justification 
by  the  Spirit.  It  is  true,  the  Spirit  had  justified  the  Saviour 
at  his  baptism  when  it  came  upon  him  in  the  form  of  a  dove. 
"  And  John  bare  record,  saymg,  I  saw  the  Spirit  descend- 
ing from  heaven  like  a  dove,  and  it  abode  upon  him.  And  I 
knew  hitn  not;  but  he  that  sent  me  to  baptize  with  water, 
the  same  said  unto  me,  upon  whom  thou  shalt  see  the  Spirit 
descending,  and  remaining  on  him,  the  same  is  he  which 
baptizeth  with  the  Holy  Ghost.  And  I  saw,  and  bare 
record  that  this  is  the  Son  of  God."  John  i.  32-34.  This 
w^as  a  justification  of  his  character  as  the  Son  of  God.  But 
his  work,  his  doctrine,  and  his  disciples  must  be  justified  as 
well  as  his  character.  And  these  were  all  most  gloriously 
justified  and  vindicated  by  the  Spirit  on  the  day  of  Pentecost. 

The  Lord,  knowing  the  greatness  of  the  work  his  disciples 
were  to  perform,  and  their  insufficiency  to  perform  it  with- 
out divine  aid,  said  to  them  after  he  had  given  them  their 
commission,  "  Behold,  I  send  the  promise  of  my  Father  upon 
you;  but  tarry  ye  in  the  city  of  Jerusalem,  until  ye  be 
endued  with  power  from  on  high."  Lukexxiv.  49.  In 
obedience  to  his  command,  they  did  tarry  at  Jerusalem,  in 
"  an  upper  room,"  "the  number  of  names  together  being 
about  a  hundred  and  twenty."     "  These  all  continued  with 


140  SERMONS   OF 

one  accord  in  prayer  and  supplication."  Acts  1.  To  the 
disciples  and  infant  church  this  was  a  time  of  solemnity  and 
interest.  The  whole  number  of  disciples  was  engaged  in 
prayer.  Perhaps  the  character  of  the  blessing  for  which 
they  prayed  was  not  very  definite  to  them.  But  they 
knew  they  would  receive  a  blessing  with  power,  which 
would  prepare  them  for  their  work.  They  praj^ed  and 
waited.  The  anxiously-looked-for  period  at  length  came, 
and  with  it  the  divine  Spirit.  "  And  when  the  day  of 
Pentecost  was  fully  come,  they  were  all  with  one  accord  at 
one  place.  And  suddenly  there  cime  a  sound  from  heaven 
as  of  a  rushing  mighty  wind,  and  it  filled  all  the  house 
where  they  were  sitting.  And  there  appeared  unto  them 
cloven  tongues  like  as  of  fire,  and  it  sat  upon  each  of  them. 
And  they  were  all  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  began  to 
speak  with  other  tongues  as  the  Spirit  gave  them  utterance." 
Acts  ii.  1-4.  This  was  the  baptism  with  the  Holy  Ghost. 
As  in  the  baptism  in  water  the  subject  is  overwhelmed  and 
entirely  immersed,  so  when  the  apostles  were  baptized  in 
the  Holy  Ghost  their  entire  being  was  brought  under  the 
influence  of  the  divine  Spirit. 

And  how  was  the  Saviour  justified  in  the  Spirit  when  it 
came  upon  the  apostles  as  it  did  on  the  day  of  Pentecost  ? 
In  coming  with  its  gifts  and  comforts,  and  power,  upon  the 
waiting  disciples  of  Christ,  it  showed  its  approbation  of 
them,  and  its  preference  to  them.  And  as  they  were  the 
disciples  of  Christ,  and  believed  and  practiced  his  doctrine, 
and  imitated  his  life,  its  descent  upon  the  followers  or  disci- 
ples of  Christ  was  a  virtual  and  manifest  vindication  and 
justification  of  Christ  and  his  doctrine.  And  though  he 
had  been  condemned  as  a  criminal  by  the  world,  he  w^as 
justified  by  heaven  as  a  divine  messenger.  Although  the 
Jews  thought  they  did  God's  service  in  condemning  the 
Lord,  the  Holy  Spirit  did  not  come   upon   the  members  of 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTER. 


141 


the  Jewish  Sanhedrim  to  testify  of  its  approval  of  their 
conduct,  neither  did  it  come  uj)on  the  Jews  in  general  who 
desired  the  condemnation  of  our  Lord,  neither  did  it  come 
upon  the  Gentiles  who  united  with  the  Jews  in  condemn- 
ing hnn.  The  Spirit  in  directing  its  course  from  heaven, 
made  its  way  totlie  upper  room  in  Jerusalem,  in  which  was 
assembled  the  infant  church  of  Christ,  and  there  it  diffused 
its  light,  its  life,  its  liberty  and  power,  showing  that  the 
imitators  of  Christ  were  the  ones  which  heaven  delighted 
to  honor. 

I  draw  two  inferences  from  the  justification  of  Christ 
in  the  Spirit.— First,  as  the  system  of  Christian  truth  has 
been  justified  by  the  Holy  Spirit  as  well  as  by  God  him- 
self, how  strong  are  its  claims  upon  all  men  for  their  belief 
in  it.  And  how  reliable  are  all  its  facts,  doctrines  and 
teaching.  Secondly,  to  my  Christian  friends  I  would  say, 
hold  fast  the  apostolical  faith,  since  it  has  been  justi- 
fied in  the  Spirit.  It  is  sometimes  more  than  intimated 
that  it  is  not  necessary  to  be  so  particular  in  adhering  so 
strictly  to  apostolic  precepts  and  practices.  Now  as  no 
form  of  Christianity  has  ever  received  the  justification  that 
the  apostolic  form  has,  it  is  wisdom,  in  respect  to  a  matter 
involvino^  interests  so  great  as  that  of  our  salvation,  to  risk 
our  hope  of  heaven  and  immortality  upon  nothing  that  has 
not  been  justified  in  the  Spirit,  and  approved  of  by  heaven. 
Apostolic  Christianity  has  thus  been  justified  and  approved  of, 
and  consequently  it  is  "  worthy  of  all  acceptance"  (1  Tim.  i. 
15),  and  "  Israel  shall  be  saved  in  the  Lord  with  an  ever- 
lasting salvation  ;  ye  shall  not  be  ashamed  nor  confounded, 
world  without  end." 


142  SERMONS  Of 

VIII. 

THE  EXCELLENCY  OF  GOSPEL  POWER 

"  But  we  have  this  treasure  in  earthen  vessels,  that  the 
excellency  of  the  power  may  be  of  God,  and  not  of  us." — 
2.  Cor.  4  :  T. 

The  first  thought  is  the  character  of  the  Gospel  presented 
to  us  in  the  figure  of  a  treasure.  And  you  all  know  that  a 
treasure  implies  value,  or  something  that  is  valuable.  And 
especially  do  we  know  this  to  be  the  case  when  allusion  is 
made  to  worldy  treasure.  It  may  be  in  the  form  of  wealth, 
or  any  valuable  commodity,  or  any  valuable  article. 

The  value  of  the  Gospel  is  seen  in  its  utility.  Whatever 
is  useful  is  valuable.  That  we  lay  down  as  an  axiom. 
The  value  of  a  thing  is  in  direct  proportion  to  the  utility, 
or  the  usefulness  of  it.  And  a  thing  that  is  really  of  no 
use,  is  really  of  no  intrinsic  value  ;  consequently,  worthy  of 
little  labor,  sacrifice  or  exertion  to  secure  it ;  while  that 
which  is  useful  is  worthy  of  our  attention,  and  deserving 
of  sacrifice  and  exertion.  The  value  of  the  Gospel  and  its 
utility  is  seen  in  the  thought  further  presented  in  our  text, 
in  the  following  language.  "  That  the  excellenc}'^  of  the 
power  may  be  of  God  and  not  of  us."  The  value  of  the 
Gospel  then,  is  seen  in  the  excellency  of  its  power.  There 
is  power  in  the  Gospel.  It  is  true,  there  is  power  in  a  good 
many  others  things,  but  it  is  often  destructive,  damaging 
and  ruinous  power ;  but  the  power  of  the  Gospel  is  excel- 
lent power — valuable  power.  In  this  particular  the  value 
of  the  Gospel  is  seen.  This  thought  is  in  harmony  with 
the  well  known  declaration  of  the  apostle  when  he  says, 
"  The  Gospel  is  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation,"  Herein 
is  the  excellency  of  the  power  of  the  Gospel  seen.  It  is  a 
power  that  saves.  We  are  in  our  unregenerated  condition, 
represented  to  be  "under  sin." — Gal.  3  :  22  ;  "under  the 
curse,"  verse   10  ;  "  captives   under   Satan,"     2  Tim.  2  :  26. 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTER.  143 

Now  the  Gospel  has  come  to  our '  deliverance.  Hence  the 
language  of  the  apostle,  "  Who  hath  delivered  us  from  the 
power  of  darkness,  and  hath  translated  us  into  the  kingdom 
of  his  dear  Son."  Col.  1 :  13.  And  our  Lord  in  speaking  of 
his  mission,  says :  '•  The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon  me, 
because  he  hath  anointed  me  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  the 
poor ;  he  hath  sent  me  to  heal  the  broken-hearted,  to  preach 
deliverance  to  the  captives,  and  recovering  of  the  sight  to 
the  blind,  to  set  at  liberty  them  that  are  bruised."  Luke 
4: 18,  All  the  effects  attributed  to  the  coming  of  our  Lord, 
are  accomplished  through  the  power  of  the  Gospel.  And 
these  effects  are  glorious  indeed,  and  hence  the  power  that 
produces  them  is  an  excellent  power. 

There  is  a  great  deal  of  power  necessary  to  save  us. 
Such  is  the  power  of  sin  over  the  young ;  upon  human 
nature,  upon  our  moral  nature,  that  it  has  produced  a  con- 
dition that  is  not  easily  rectified  ;  a  condition  out  of  which 
it  is  impossible  for  us  to  deliver  ourselves.  A  divine  power, 
a  power  from  God  is  necessary,  and  if  that  power  is  not 
brought  to  bear  upon  us,  and  we  are  not  rescued  from  sin, 
we  are  lost,  forever  lost.  No  arm  but  the  arm  of  God  can 
save  us  ;  and  how  unwise  to  venture  on  in  sin  and  folly, 
when  we  can  at  any  lime  be  converted.  Let  us  not -go  on 
in  sin  and  sin  away  our  healthful  days,  our  best  years,  the 
most  vigorous  and  active  part  of  our  lives,  and  think  we 
can  do  better  then  and  repent  on  a  dying  bed. 

No  doubt  many  of  the  supposed  conversions  that  have 
taken  place  on  the  death-bed  have  been  delusions.  Oh !  it 
is  not  to  shed  a  few  tears  ;  it  is  not  to  express  a  few  regrets 
for  our  misspent  life,  or  to  have  prayers  made  by  the  faith- 
ful ones  that  saves.  No  ;  this  is  often  a  delusion.  When 
we  think  of  the  treachery  of  the  human  heart,  and  its 
wickedness,  we  ought  to  avail  ourselves  of  the  times  and 
opportunities  of  having  the  application  of  the  divine  power 


144  SERMONS   OF 

of  God  made  to  us,  by  which  we  may  be  assured  that  we 
are  saved,  by  having  a  proper  test  of  character.  Wliat  do 
I  mean  by  a  proper  test  of  character  ?  Why,  come  out  on 
the  side  of  the  Lord,  and  let  the  devil  and  earth  and  hell 
assail  the  soul  and  tempt  it,  and  try  to  draw  it  away,  and 
when  these  powers  have  been  brought  to  bear  against  us, 
and  we  call  upon  Christ  to  resist  these  powers,  and  when 
we  feel  that  our  love  for  Christ  and  the  church  is  sufficient 
to  deliver  us  from  these  powers,  then  we  may  hope  that  Ave 
are  right  and  our  conversion  not  a  deception. 

Sometimes  we  are  insulted.  The  young  are  tried,  Not 
long  since,  a  very  painful  fact  was  communicated  to  me. 
In  a  certain  place,  where  there  had  been  a  revival  of  relig- 
ion, a  number  of  souls,  among  them  a  number  of  young 
persons,  were  gathered  into  the  church.  To-day  several  of 
them  are  out  of  the  church.  Had  those  young  people  on 
the  sick-bed  manifested  a  penitency  or  a  religious  interest, 
and  had  they  died  then,  it  would  have  been  thought  that 
they  had  gone  to  heaven  ;  but  is  it  so?  They  manifested 
some  concern,  but  from  some  cause  it  was  very  evident  that 
there  was  not  a  genuine  conversion.  And  when  they  were 
tempted  b}^  the  world,  they  yielded  to  the  temptation,  and 
did  that  which  separated  them  from  the  church. 

We  ouoht  to  embrace  relio'ion  under  circumstances 
under  which  our  religion  can  be  tried,  like  many  of  you 
have  done,  and  like  others  have  done.  Our  Christian  life 
is  a  struggle.  It  may  be  said  of  you  that  Satan  desires 
to  have  you  to  sift  you  as  wheat.  He  desires  to  have  every 
brother  and  sister.  He  desires  our  ruin.  He  is  tr3'ing  to 
get  us.  Here  is  the  conflict  and  here  we  can  test  our  fidel- 
ity to  Christ ;  our  religious  feelings,  our  safety.  But  Ave 
can  do  nothing  of  that  kind  when  Ave  turn  to  God  on  a 
dying  bed.  If  Ave  don't  know  much  about  temptation,  we 
may  fall  into  terrible  delusion,  and  deception  in  regard  to 
our  spiritual  state. 


ELDER   JAMES   QUINTEE.  145 

We  want  somthing  great;  we  want  the  Gospel — the 
Gospel  means  of  salvation.  We  want  that.  There  is  excel- 
lent power  in  it.  Moral  power,  power  to  change  our  guilty 
hearts,  power  to  change  our  moral  natures. 

It  is  said  that  the  heart  is  deceitful  above  all  things,  and 
desperately  wicked.  It  is  so ;  but  God's  power  is  calcu- 
lated to  change  the  heart.  It  is  valuable  and  calculated  to 
save  us,  calculated  to  convert  us,  build  us  up,  comfort  us, 
help  us,  and  finally  to  cap  the  climax  of  our  salvation,  in 
enabling  us  to  overcome  death  and  the  grave,  and  secure 
immortality. 

Another  thought  implied  by  the  term  "treasure "is 
something  that  is  lasting.  In  the  Gospel  there  is  some- 
thing that  is  durable.  What  is  really  useful  is  durable. 
This  is  another  quality  of  usefulness — something  that  is 
lasting.  Such  is  the  value  of  the  Gospel.  There  is  some- 
thing in  it  lasting.  Peter  said,  "  all  flesh  is  as  the  grass, 
and  the  glory  of  man  as  the  flower  of  the  grass.  The  grass 
withereth  and  the  flower  thereof  fadeth  away,  but  the 
word  of  the  Lord  endureth  forever."  Did  we  ever  look  at 
the  connection  and  get  the  real  idea  of  the  above  passage  ? 

"All  flesh  is  as  grass,  and  the  glory  of  man,  that  is  the 
glory  of  fame,  glory  of  the  world,  glory  of  human  applause, 
the  glory  of  these  things  is  like  the  flower  of  the  grass  which 
soon  fades  away.  You  all  know,  young  men  and  women 
especially  those  of  you  who  have  studied  botany,  how 
delicate  is  the  little  flower.  You  can  hardly  anal\^ze  it  and 
discover  its  class,  genus  and  character  before  it  withers 
in  your  hands.  When  we  first  looked  at  it,  it  was  a  pretty 
little  flower,  and  we  admired  it,  but  how  soon  it  withers! 
Young  men  and  women,  this  is  an  illustration  of  your  own 
glory,  of  your  own  carnal  enjoyments,  of  your  own  worldly 
honor.  Let  the  little  flower  preach  to  you.  The  grass 
withers  and  the  flower  fades,  and  soon  all  pass  away.   Until 


146  SERMONS   OF 

we  had  the  late  showers,  the  grass  withered  and  its  verdure 
disappeared.  In  this  there  is  a  lesson  for  us.  So  it  is  with 
man.  As  the  grass  will  wither, '  and  as  the  grass  will 
die,  and  all  things  of  a  worldly  character  will  fade,  so  will 
we  pass  away,  but  the  word  of  the  Lord  endureth  forever. 
In  it  there  is  perennial  verdure,  undying  growth,  unfading 
greenness,  eternal  life,  eternal  freshness  and  eternal  com- 
forts. The  character  of  the  word  of  the  Lord  endureth 
forever.  Its  enjoyments  are  durable.  They  do  not  soon 
wear  out.  Some  of  you  have  not  been  so  long  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  Lord,  but  I  hope  your  religion  is  not  wearing 
out.  I  hope  instead  of  that  you  are  feeling  more  interested 
in  it.  I  have  enjoyed  the  comforts  and  consolation  of  relig- 
ion for  nearly  half  a  century,  and  many  living  monuments 
of  God's  mercy  have  enjoyed  them  longer  than  this,  but 
has  it  worn  out  ?  No  ;  it  is  as  precious  to  us  as  ever.  I 
love  to  be  with  you.  Some  of  us  have,  en  joyed  communion 
seasons  a  great  while  ago,  but  that  latest  communion  season 
was  quite  as  good,  and  better  than  many  that  we  enjoyed 
forty  or  fifty  years  ago.  What  is  the  point  ?  The  dura- 
bility of  the  Gospel,  of  its  comforts,  and  its  consolations. 
They  will  never  get  old.  They  will  always  be  fresh,  always 
enjoyable.  If  we  live  to  be  old  and  retain  our  mental 
powers,  we  can  enjoy  them  to  the  latest  hour  in  life.  And 
is  that  all  ?  No  ;  we  can  enjoy  them  to  the  latest  hour  in 
life,  and  then  be  translated  to  heaven,  there  to  resume  our 
enjoyments,  and  have  them  perpetuated  forever  and  forever. 
There  they  will  never  wear  out.  There  they  will  always 
be  new. 

"  We  have  this  treasure  in  earthen  vessels,  that  the  excel- 
lency of  the  power  may  be  of  God  and  not  of  us."  What 
are  these  earthen  vessels?  Men.  Paul  classes  himself 
with  the  earthen  vessels,  and  says  that  God  did  not  commit 
this  treasure  to  wooden,   silver,  or  golden  vessels,  but   to 


ELDER  JAMES  QUINTER.  14Y 

earthen  vessels.  If  the  Gospel  had  been  committed  to  a 
holy  order,  of  celestial  beings,  divine  beings,  with  their 
powerful  intellects,  their  great  capacity  and  inventive  genius, 
then  it  might  have  been  thought  that  the  power  was  inher- 
ent in  them,  originated  in  them,  and  that  would  have  taken 
the  glory  from  God  and  Christ. 

God  is  a  jealous  God,  and  he  will  not  give  his  glory  to 
another  ;  and  let  us,  in  our  enjoyments,  successes  and  labors, 
recognize  God.  Keep  self  out  of  the  way  and  try  to  get 
under  the  influence  of  the  divine  Spirit,  and  w^hen  we  suc- 
ceed, give  God  the  glory.  Hence  in  order  that  the  excel- 
lency of  the  power  of  the  Gospel  could  not  be  attributed  to 
the  vessel  or  instrument  by  which  it  is  preached,  God 
committed  the  Gospel  to  men — to  earthen  vessels. 

How  frail  is  the  human  body  !  How  frail  is  the  human 
intellect !  And  how  degraded  is  our  moral  character  ;  and 
there  can  but  little  good  come  out  of  ourselves,  consequently, 
the  excellency  of  the  power  of  the  Gospel  can  not  be  attrib- 
uted to  men ;  because  man  has  so  little  power  in  him,  so 
little  genius  in  him,  we  mean  in  regard  to  spiritual  subjects, 
that  he  could  not  devise  or  originate  anything  like  we  have 
in  the  Gospel.  Remember  the  thought.  He  committed  the 
Gospel  to  earthen  vessels. 

We  are  earthen.  We  must  remember  our  capacities  as 
preachers  and  teachers ;  do  not  forget  that  we  are  earthy 
and  imperfect,  consequently  can  not  expect  much  good  to 
grow  out  of  ourselves. 

From  the  fact  that  the  Gospel  has  been  preached  by  im- 
perfect men,  a  divine  character  of  the  Gospel  is  evident.  I 
mean  this:  Look  at  the  Gospel,  and  look  at  the  doctrine 
contained  in  it ;  look  at  the  standard  of  holiness  inculcated 
in  the  Gospel ;  look  at  the  grace  and  mercy  and  kindness, 
and  all  these  things  enjoined  in  the  Gospel,  all  right  in  oppo- 
sition  to  the  human  heart.     Could    man   have   orie-inated 


148  SERMONS   OF 

them  ?  Could  man  have  originated  a  system  of  doctrines 
like  that  which  we  have  in  the  Gospel  ?  Could  earthen  ves- 
sels do  this?  Even  Paul  himself,  with  his  mighty  intellect 
and  profound  education,  could  not  have  devised  a  scheme 
like  that  which  we  have  in  the  Gospel.  Could  he  have  orig- 
inated doctrines  so  dignified,  grave  and  sublime  as  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Gospel  are  ?  Could  they  have  originated  in  a 
soil  like  the  soil  of  the  human  heart  or  human  character? 
They  never  could.  Consequently  these  doctrines  must  be 
divine.  The  preachers  that  preach  them  did  not  start  them. 
They  are  too  holy,  too  peculiar,  for  man  to  have  originated 
them ;  consequently  we  must  acknowledge  the  divine  char- 
acter of  these  doctrines,  because  they  did  not  originate  with 
us.  Men  have  their  systems.  I  might  get  up  something. 
Men  have  got  up  sN^stems,  but  Avhat  are  they  ?  They  are  not 
worthy  to  be  compared  with  the  system  contained  in  the 
Gospel ;  they  bear  no  comparison  to  the  excellency  of  the 
system  of  divine  truth  that  we  have  in  the  Scriptures.  The 
genius  of  men  might  originate  a  great  many  things,  but  they 
cannot  come  up  to  the  Gospel. 

What  is  the  example  of  the  moral  and  spiritual  character 
presented  for  our  imitation  ?  What  is  the  example  of  life 
that  we  have  pi'esented  to  us  in  the  Gospel  ?  Think  a 
moment.  This  is  an  important  question.  Without  dwell- 
ing, it  may  be  you  will  all  answer  me  just  as  you  understand 
the  matter.  Christ  is  the  example,  and  what  kind  of  a  char- 
acter is  Christ  ?  Could  man  devise  that  character,  so  pure, 
so  perfect,  so  free  from  sin,  so  separate  from  everything  that 
is  unholy,  containing  ev^erything  that  is  true  and  good  and 
pure,  could  men  have  devised  a  character  of  that  kind  ?  Can 
an  artist  communicate  anything  to  the  canvas  but  what  he 
has  in  his  own  mind?  He  originates  the  ideas  and  he  then 
places  them  on  the  canvas.  That  is  what  the  artist  must 
do ;  and  could  man  ever  have  drawn  such  a  character  as 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTER.  149 

Christ,  in  writings,  unless  he  had  originated  that  character 
in  his  own  mind  ?  And  could  men  have  originated  a  char- 
acter so  kind  and  grand  ?  It  never  could  have  been  done. 
Hence  the  divinity  of  the  Gospel.  God's  example  is  fault- 
less. Think  of  that!  I  feel  that  it  is  worthy  of  considera- 
tion. 

There  are  a  great  many  evidences  going  to  prove  the 
divine  authority  of  the  Bible  and  Christianity,  but  one  of 
the  most  plain  and  satisfactory  evidences  is  the  internal  evi- 
dence of  the  Gospel.  It  is  that  pure  life  which  it  originates 
and  inculcates.  Man  never  would  have  devised  a  system 
condemning  his  own  faults.  One  thing  we  may  be  assured 
of,  and  that  is :  "  We  have  this  treasure  in  earthen  ves- 
sels that  the  excellency  of  the  power  may  be  of  God,  and 
not  of  us."  What  has  the  Gospel  done?  Has  it  not  done 
more  than  any  human  system  ever  did  before  ?  What  has 
the  world  done?  Some  of  you  students  know  something 
about  philosophy ;  you  will  know  something  more  about  it 
hereafter  perhaps.  There  were  eight  or  ten  systems  of 
philosophy  among  the  Greeks,  but  what  did  they  do  to  make 
the  world  better?     They  did  but  little. 

Socrates,  it  is  said,  after  he  delivered  his  lectures,  com- 
plained to  some  of  his  friends  that  he  did  not  know  how  it 
was  that  his  system  had  not  done  more  in  reforming  his 
countrymen,  and  in  improving  their  characters.  His  doc- 
trines were  good,  his  efforts  were  strong,  he  was  sincere,  but 
he  was  at  a  loss  to  know  why  there  was  not  any  greater  im- 
pression made ;  why  the  efforts  of  his  labor  were  not  more 
manifest.  That  was  his  concern  ;  it  was  his  discouragement. 
But  when  Christianity  came,  the  world  became  better. 
Heathen  temples  were  forsaken,  heathen  idolatry  was  aban- 
doned. Paul  in  writing  to  the  same  church  says :  "  Be  not 
deceived ;  neither  fornicators,  nor  idolaters,  nor  adulterers, 
nor  effeminate,  nor  abusers  of  themselves  with  mankind,  nor 


150  SERMONS    OF 

thieves,  nor  covetous,  nor  extortioners,  shall  inherit  the 
kingdom  of  God.  And  such  were  some  of  you,  but  ye  are 
washed,  but  ye  are  justified  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus, 
and  by  the  Spirit  of  our  God."  See  the  change  that  was 
produced  in  them!  That  the  excellency  of  the  power  might 
be  of  God  and  not  of  us.  The  point  is,  the  success  of  the 
Gospel,  and  the  reforming  power  of  the  Gospel. 

Brethren  and  sisters,  try  to  show  to  the  world  the  power 
of  the  Gospel  by  letting  it  reflect  in  you)'  tempers  and  lives 
the  holy  principles  and  dispositions  which  it  inculcates.  Let 
the  world  see  the  influence  of  the  Gospel  in  you.  It  is  a 
pleasant  sight  to  see  the  young  man  that  was  wild,  wicked, 
and  foolish,  turn  and  become  devoted  to  God,  and  faithful 
in  his  service,  and  the  young  woman  who  has  been  giddy 
and  fashionable,  to  see  her  converted.  She  takes  her  place 
at  the  feet  of  Jesus.  Oh !  these  conversions  are  the  evi- 
dences that  go  to  prove  the  divine  power  of  the  Gospel  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Though  all  our  conversions  do  not 
show  the  power  as  we  would  like  them  to,  yet  we  have 
many  glorious  changes,  so  manifest,  so  striking,  that  there  is 
sufficient  evidence  proving  that  there  was  a  supernatural 
power  there  to  change  the  bad  man,  and  the  bad  woman, 
proving  that  the  excellency  of  the  power  is  of  God  and  not 
of  the  preacher. 

Seek  this  invaluable  treasure.  It  is  both  useful  and  en- 
during. The  young  will  find  it  very  useful.  Its  excellent 
power  will  enable  them  to  form  good  habits  and  good  char- 
acters. It  is  useful  to  i^eople  in  every  age  and  condition  of 
life.  And  its  blessings  and  enjoyments  will  endure  while 
the  soul  lives  to  need  them.  Fail  not  to  secure  this  treasure. 
With  the  Gospel  character  and  hope,  though  we  may  have 
nothinof  else,  we  are  rich.  Without  them,  whatever  else  we 
may  have,  we  are  poor. 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTER.  151 

IX. 

THE  PREPARATION  POR  SERVING  GOD. 

"  For  if  the  blood  of  bulls  and  of  goats,  the  ashes  of  a 
heifer  sprinkling  the  unclean,  sanctifieth  to  the  purifying  of 
the  flesli :  How  much  more  shall  the  blood  of  Christ,  who 
through  the  eternal  Spirit  offered  himself  without  spot  to 
God,  purge  your  consciences  from  dead  works  to  serve  the 
living  God.''— Heb.  ix.  13,  14. 

The  Mosaic  law  was  elementary,  typical  and  introduc- 
tory. In  the  sense  that  our  elementary  school  books  are 
introductory  to  higher  works  in  the  respective  sciences, 
where  the  subject  is  carried  to  the  fullest  extent,  so  the 
Mosaic  law  contained  the  elements  of  the  Christian  truth 
which  is  developed  in  the  New  Testament.  The  Mosaic 
dispensation  was  introductory  to  the  Gospel  dispensation. 
Reference  is  made  in  our  text  to  certain  ceremonies  under 
the  old  law.  If  a  Jew  touched  any  dead  bod}',  he  was 
unclean  and  was  excluded  from  the  worship  which  was  then 
performed,  until  he  was  cleansed. 

There  was,  in  the  ceremony  of  cleansing,  the  water  of  puri- 
fication, in  the  making  of  which  was  used  the  ashes  of  the 
heifer.  The  heifer  was  burned  and  the  ashes  were  taken  to 
the  priest.  In  the  Old  Testament  we  have  a  minute  descrip- 
tion of  the  manner  in  which  this  water  of  purification  was 
prepared.  ThenVe  have  the  blood  of  bulls  and  goats  which 
was  used  in  other  ceremonies  connected  with  the  Mosaic 
ritual. 

Now  Paul's  meaning  is,  that  if  the  water  of  purification 
made  out  of  the  ashes  of  a  burnt  heifer,  and  the  blood  of 
bulls  and  goats,  ''sanctified  to  the  purification  of  the  flesh," 
how  much  more  certain  will  be  the  effect,  how  much  more 
powerful  will  be  the  blood  of  Christ  in  cleansing  the  con- 
science from  dead  works  to   serve  the  living  God.      The 


152  SERMONS    OF 

apostle  leads  us  from  the  means  provided  under  the  Mosaic 
law  for  the  purifying  of  the  flesh,  to  the  means  provided  by 
God  under  the  Christian  dispensation  for  the  cleansing  of 
the  conscience. 

You  have  heard  me  read  the  9th  verse :  "  "Which  was  a 
figure  for  the  time  then  present,  in  which  was  offered  both 
gifts  and  sacrifices,  that  could  not  make  him  that  did  the 
service  perfect  as  pertaining  to  the  conscience."  The  cere- 
monies of  the  old  law  failed  to  reach  the  conscience  because 
they  were  not  intended  to  do  so.  They  failed  to  bring 
about  the  entire  reformation  and  regeneration  of  the  human 
character.  They  were  not  intended  to  do  so.  They  Avere 
elementary  and  introductory,  Now  we  have  another  dis- 
pensation. Under  this  the  elements  of  divine  power  are 
given,  and  by  a  proper  application  of  these,  the  conscience 
of  fallen  man  is  reached.  The  central  part  of  the  whole  hu- 
man being  is  reached.  The  very  fountain  of  life  is  purified. 
Our  consciences  may  now  be  cleansed  from  dead  works,  and  be 
purified  from  the  defilement  of  sin.  That  seems  to  be  the 
meaning  of  the  apostle.  We  have  means  provided  which 
not  only  cleanse  the  body,  but  also  the  consciences  of  men. 
If  conscience  is  cleansed,  our  Avhole  nature  is  purified. 
Conscience  is  a  part  of  our  moral  nature,  but  it  is  here  un- 
questionabl}'  used  to  denote  the  wliole  of  our  moral  nature, 
the  whole  heart  with  all  its  diversified  faculties. 

The  Christian  doctrine  and  view  of  God. — "What  is  the 
Christian  doctrine  and  view  of  God  ?  It  is  that  God  is  a 
living  God.  This  is  the  view  of  God  which  is  presented  all 
the  way  through  the  Gospel.  There  are  several  occasions 
on  which  similar  language  was  used.  The  Savior,  alluding 
to  God,  does  not  call  him  the  living  God,  but  uses  the  very 
expressive  language,  the  living  Father.  John  vi.  57.  It  is 
not  uncommon  for  the  Jews  under  the  old  dispensation  to 
speak  of  God  as  the  living  God,  or  to  say  "  as  the  Lord 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTER.  153 

liveth."  The  Lord  himself  uses  the  expression,  "  as  I  live, 
saith  the  Lord."  This  was  done  v/henever  he  wanted  to 
make  his  announcements  especially  expressive,  or  when  he 
wanted  to  call  their  attention  to  what  he  said.  The  Chris- 
tian view  of  God  is,  then,  that  he  is  3i,living  God. 

And  the  Christian  view  of  God  is  in  striking  contrast 
with  the  heathen  view  of  God.  The  gods  of  heathenism 
are  dead  gods.  They  do  not  live.  They  have  ej^es,  but 
they  see  not ;  they  have  ears,  but  they  hear  not.  Ps. 
cxxxv,  16.  There  is  no  life  in  them.  I  say  there  is  a 
remarkable  contrast  between  the  living,  personal  God  whom 
we  worship,  and  the  dumb,  inanimate  objects  which  the 
poor,  deluded  heathen  worship  as  God.  This  view  of  God 
as  a  living  God  is  in  striking  contrast  with  the  secular 
view  of  God.  The  view  of  the  secular  and  worldly  philoso- 
pher and  the  view  of  worldly  wisdom  differ  from  the 
Christian  view.  Most  men  in  our  country  have  some  view 
of  God.  Many,  however,  have  a  different  view  from  the 
one  which  is  taught  in  the  Bible.  Va  writing  upon  scientific 
subjects,  many  of  our  writers  view  God  as  a  mere  abstrac- 
tion. They  have  some  idea  of  the  power  of  God,  but  they 
look  upon  him  as  a  mere  controlling  force  in  the  universe.  • 
They  do  not  entertain  the  idea  of  a  "  living  God,"  of  a  liv- 
ing personality,  of  a  "  living  Father."  They  do  not  look 
upon  him  as  a  being  possessing  an  intelligence  which  is 
informed  of  man's  doings,  as  a  being  possessing  passions 
and  who  is  capable  of  sympathizing  with  his  people.  Such 
ideas  do  not  enter  into  their  philosophy.  They  look  upon 
God  as  a  mere  idea,  a  mere  notion  of  the  mind.  "We  have 
many  other  views  of  God  with  which  the  Christian  view  is 
in  contrast.  I  might  notice  the  Pantheistic  view  of  God. 
The  Pantheist  holds  that  God  and  the  universe  are  one. 
This  view  destroys  the  personality  of  God.  I  regard  the 
Pantheistic  view  as  but  little  better  than  the  view  of  the 


154  SERMONS    OF 

idolater  which  looks  upon  God  as  an  inanimate  being.  The 
Christian  has  another  view  of  God.  He  regards  him  as  a 
living  being  possessing  intelligence,  passions  and  sympathies. 
To  such  a  God  we  can  go  in  our  sorro'.vs  and  troubles, 
and  feel  that  he  will  sj^mpathize  with  us,  and  that  he  will 
help  us, 

David  says:  "  My  soul  thirsteth  after  the  living  God." 
That  is  as  much  as  to  say,  nothing  but  the  living  God  will 
satisfy  me ;  nothing  but  the  living  God  can  be  to  my  mind 
what  I  want.  Compared  with  the  other  views  of  God,  we 
see  how  superior  the  Christian  view  is. 

We  can  say  with  Job :  "  I  know  that  my  Redeemer 
liveth.'' — Job  xix,  25.  I  know  that  he  reigns ;  that  he  exer- 
cises power,  and  that  when  I  need  his  help  and  sympathy 
I  will  have  them. 

He  is  the  living  God  because  he  is  the  source  of  all  life, 
Paul  said,  in  his  ixjasterly  sermon  at  Athens,  to  the  people : 
"He  giveth  to  all  life,  and  breath  and  all  things;  and  hath 
made  of  one  blood  all  t+ie  nations  of  men  for  to  dwell  on 
all  the  face  of  the  earth,  "and  has  determined  the  times 
before  appointed,  and  the  bounds  of  their  habitation,"  He 
then  gives  several  points  further,  and  says :  "  In  him  we 
live,  and  move,  and  have  our  being." — Acts  xvii,  26-28. 
He  is,  consequently,  the  cause  of  all  existence  from  the 
least  species  of  animalculge  to  the  highest  form  of  animated 
existence ;  from  the  smallest  herb  to  the  largest  tree ;  from 
the  smallest  spire  of  grass  to  the  grand  and  mighty  cedars  of 
Lebanon.  God  is  the  cause  of  the  vegetable  life  as  well  as 
of  the  animal.  This,  believers  in  Christian  truth,  is  our  doc. 
trine.  This  is  what  we  hold  and  what  we  believe.  It  is  the 
Christian  creed  that  God  gives  life  to  all. 

If,  by  general  reading  and  observation,  we  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  God  is  a  living  God,  and  that  he  is  the  cause 
of  all  life,  and  that  he  gives  us  breath,  life,  and  everything ; 


ELDER  JAMES  QUINTER.  155 

from  these  considerations,  it  follows  according  to  Christian 
law,  and  Christian  truth,  that  it  is  our  duty  to  love  and  serve 
him.  This  follows  logically,  and  properly.  In  view  of  the 
relation  which  we  sustain  to  God,  in  view  of  the  relation  to 
him  as  dependent  creatures,  we  owe  him  our  service.  The 
Bible  doctrine  is,  that  we  must  love  and  reverence  him.  This 
Bible  which  we  accept  as  true,  requires  this  of  us  all.  When 
you  accept  the  Bible  as  true,  and  I  hope  that  none  of  you 
do  anything  else,  then  you  should  serve  God  according  to 
the  teaching  of  the  Bible.  You  sometimes  look  upon  us 
Christians  as  not  being  consisteni.  You  say  that  we  do  not 
walk  with  that  consistency  of  life  in  our  goings  forth  that 
our  holy  principles  require.  I  acknowledge  it.  As  a  repre- 
sentative of  the  body  of  Christian  believers,  I  acknowledge 
it.  Many  of  us  feel  and  mourn  over  our  delinquency.  If 
you  could  see  us  in  secret,  you  would  find  us  grieving  over 
our  misconduct.  But  we  are  trying  to  do  right.  We  are 
preaching  and  praying  and  singing,  and  making  use  of  all  the 
heaven-appointed  means  that  we  may  become  better.  We 
are  striving  by  the  use  of  all  the  means  in  our  power  to 
approach  nearer  to  the  divine  character  of  him  whose  disci- 
ples we  profess  to  be,  and  whom  we  call  Master.  We  are 
professing  to  follow  Christ  and  lead  others  to  him;  but  even 
if  we  fail,  are  we  not,  my  unconverted  friends,  more  consistent 
than  you  are?  You  accept  the  Bible  as  true.  You  admit 
the  binding  and  obligatory  force  of  these  principles  upon  all 
men  who  are  brought  in  contact  with  them,  yet  you  are  not 
professing  to  follow  them.  Do  you  see  the  inconsistency  ? 
We  see  our  failings,  and  we  want  you  to  see  yours.  There 
is  inconsistency  on  the  part  of  all  those  who  read  and  respect 
the  Bible,  but  do  not  try  to  practice  its  teachings.  In  our 
lecture  rooms,  in  many  of  our  societies,  the  Bible  is  read, 
but  there  is  great  indifference  manifested  in  regard  to  its 
teachings.    While  many  men  respect  and  believe  the  Bible, 


156  SERMONS    OF 

they  are  not  governed  by  its  teachings  in  their  daily  life. 
Let  us  try  to  do  better.  Come  along,  my  friends,  we  will 
try  to  aid  you.  In  union  there  is  strength.  You  ought  to  be 
trying  to  serve  God,  as  we  all  live  by  him  and  in  him. 

In  tlie  third  place,  men  in  their  unconverted  condition 
are  disqualified  to  serve  God.  The  conscience  is  polluted  by 
sin.  Conscience  is  here  used  to  denote  the  whole  moral 
nature.  And  the  moral  nature  or  heart  being  defiled  we 
are  disqualified  to  serve  God.  Sin  unfits  us  for  the  service 
of  God.  Hence,  you  must  cleanse  your  hearts.  The  text 
tells  us  how  :  "  For  if  tlie  blood  of  bulls  and  of  goats,  and 
the  ashes  of  a  heifer  sprinkling  tlie  unclean,  sanctifieth  to 
the  purif3nng  of  the  flesh ;  how  much  more  shall  the  blood 
of  Christ,  who,  through  the  eternal  spirit,  ofi'ered  himself 
without  spot  to  God,  purge  your  conscience  from  dead 
works  to  serve  the  living  God."  "Why  did  Jesus,  on  the 
wings  of  love,  speed  to  earth  ?  Prompted  by  mercy,  why 
did  he  leave  heaven  and  come  to  earth?  Why  did  he 
assume  a  human,  body  ?  "Why  did  he  become  identified  with 
our  humanity  ?  Why  did  he  offer  himself  a  sacrifice  for 
sin  ?  He  suffered  all  these  things  so  that  he  might  be  able 
to  cleanse  our  hearts  from  dead  works,  so  that  we  might  be 
able  to  serve  the  living  God.  Without  having  the  obstruc- 
tions taken  away,  we  could  not  serve  God.  Jesus  came  to 
help  us  b}'^  giving  us  a  means  to  remove  the  obstacles.  His 
life  and  his  atoning  merits  are  offered  as  a  sacrifice  for  us. 
We  can  not  serve  God,  nor  enjoy  him  while  defiled  by  sin. 
We  must  be  made  spiritually  clean. 

The  infirmities  of  nature  are  often  held  as  an  excuse  for 
not  coming  to  Christ.  Can  you  present  this  excuse  in  the 
presence  of  God  ?  Will  he  accept  it  ?  I  point  you  to  Christ 
as  a  helper,  a  Saviour  and  a  Mediator.  How  can  we  offer 
such  an  excuse  when  we  have  such  ample  provisions  as  we 
have  in, Christ,  to  meet  all  our  wants  ?     The  man  in  the  par- 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTEK.  157 

able  who  did  not  have  a  weddino^  o-arment  was  asked,  "  How 
earnest  thou  hither  not  having-  a  wedding  garment  ?  "  It  is 
said  he  was  speechless.  So  you,  who  have  been,  brought  up 
in  a  Christian  land  and  under  Christian  influence,  will  have 
no  excuse  to  offer.  Paul  says,  "  Thou  art  inexcusable,  O 
man,  whosoever  thou  art," 

There  are  two  considerations  in  the  service  that  we  are 
to  render  to  God  that  must  not  be  overlooked.  First,  we 
must  serve  him  from  a  right  motive,  and  witli  a  right  feel- 
ing. And  secondly,  we  must  serve  him  according  to  his 
word  and  will.  We  must  serve  him  with  a  willing  heart, 
and  a  ready  and  cheerful  mind.  We  must  not  go  about  the 
service  of  God  with  an  air  of  reluctance.  We  should  enjoy 
it  as  our  most  pleasant  work.  Many  persons  pursue  the  ser- 
vice ^of  God  with  an  indifference  which  seems  to  indicate 
but  little  pleasure  in  it.  This  should  not  be.  God  has  given 
us  our  part  to  do.  We  should  therefore  do  it.  In  the  lan- 
guage of  the  apostle  Paul,  "  Let  us  have  grace,  whereby  we 
may  serve  God  acceptably  with  reverence  and  godly  fear." 
— Ileb.  xii.  28.  Let  us  have  grace:  it  is  free.  We  may 
serve  him,  yet  not  acceptably.  A  large  class  of  persons  are 
represented  by  the  following  language  :  "  Many  will  say  to 
me  in  that  day,  Lord,  Lord,  have  we  not  prophesied  in  thj'- 
name  ?  and  in  thy  name  have  cast  out  devils  ]  and  in  thy 
name  have  done  many  wonderful  works?  And  then  will  I  pro- 
fess unto  them,  I  never  knew  you:  depart  from  me,  ye  that 
work  iniquity." — Matt.  vii.  22.  Jesus  will  not  recognize  us 
among  his  followers  unless  we  serve  him  acceptably.  Serve 
God  with  profound  reverence  and  godly  fear.  Let  these 
principles  be  prominently  before  us — let  them  be  stamped 
upon  our  minds,  for  upon  them  depends  the  proper  method 
of  serving  God. 

Let  me  illustrate  this :  I,  as  an  employer,  may  employ 
some  one  to  do  some  work  for  me.     I  contract  to  pay  him 


158  SERMONS  OF 

by  the  month  or  year  as  the  case  may  be.  He  does  my 
work.  If  I  am  a  farmer,  he  goes  out  into  my  field  to  work. 
He  does  not,  however,  want  to  do  anything,  but  what  he  is 
absolutely  com))elled  to  do  by  the  contract.  When  he  has 
done  that  he  will  do  no  more.  He  may  be  altogether  indif- 
ferent to  my  interests,  and  feel  no  concern  about  saving  my 
property,  but  will  see  it  wasted  and  will  not  try  to  save  it. 
At  the  end  of  the  period  for  which  he  was  engaged  the 
wages  are  demanded,  and  I  must  pay  him,  if  he  has  com- 
pleted the  term,  though  he  has  been  very  selfish,  and  looked 
only  at  his  own  interests.  The  law  requires  me  to  pay  him 
if  he  has  done  the  work,  whatever  the  motive  may  have 
been  that  has  prompted  him  to  do  it.  But  in  serving  God, 
it  is  not  enough  that  we  do  what  he  has  required  of  us,  but 
we  must  also  do  it  in  the  right  spirit.  As  we  have  already 
said,  there  are  two  things  that  must  be  kept  in  mind  by 
Christians,  if  they  would  serve  God  acceptably.  First,  there 
must  be  a  right  spirit  of  feeling.  We  must  do  what  we  do 
to  the  honor  and  glory  of  God.  Secondly,  we  must  serve 
him  according  to  the  directions  and  rules  which  he  has  given 
us.  It  is  too  often  thought  that  so  we  are  sincere  in  what 
we  do,  it  does  not  matter  so  much  in  regard  to  the  manner 
or  form  in  which  we  serve  him.  But  this  is  a  mistake.  We 
should  not  only  be  sincere,  but  we  should  be  strictly  obedient 
to  God's  commandments.  He  is  a  very  kind  master,  but  his 
directions  must  be  observed,  or  we  shall  not  receive  our 
reward.  Provision  has  been  made  to  supply  us  with  all  the 
means  necessary  to  prepare  us  to  perform  our  duty,  and 
therefore  God  will  not  excuse  us.  He  is  the  Judge  before 
whom  we  must  come.  He  knows  our  every  act ;  he  knows 
the  motive  which  lies  at  the  bottom  of  the  service  which 
we  are  giving  him;  he  knows  how  much  of  the  heart  is 
enlisted  in  his  cause.  In  the  great  day  of  final  settlement, 
if  the  purest  motives  and  best  feelings  have  not  been  enlisted 


ELDER  JAMES   QUINTER.  169 

in  his  service,  the  reward  will  be  withheld.  The  reason  of 
this  is  that  Jesus  came  to  provide  and  make  an  atonement 
for  the  sins  of  the  world,  that  all  the  obstructions  might  be 
taken  out  of  the  way.  As  Paul  says,  "The  carnal  mind  is 
enmity  against  God  :  for  it  is  not  subject  to  the  law  of  God, 
neither  indeed  can  be."  The  carnal  mind  is  to  be  taken  out 
of  the  way.  As  a  substitute  for  the  carnal  mind,  the  Chris- 
tian mind  is  to  be  substituted.  Conscience  is  to  be  purged 
from  dead  works.  The  heart  is  to  be  cleansed  of  evil,  and 
filled  with  right  principles  and  thoughts.  As  a  natural 
result,  if  the  heart  is  pure,  holy  principles  and  conduct  will 
be  produced  in  place  of  evil  principles  and  wicked  conduct. 
The  Christian  theory  in  regard  to  the  matter  is  the  media- 
torship  of  Christ.  He  came  into  the  world  to  cleanse  us. 
As  is  remarked  in  the  text  he  is  to  cleanse  us  of  dead  works. 
My  subject  last  night  was,  "  Why  tarriest  thou  ?  arise 
and  be  baptized,  and  wash  away  thy  sins,  calling  upon  the 
name  of  the  Lord."  One  of  the  ideas  brought  out  was,  that 
Christ  was  to  aid  us  in  removing  our  sins.  Christ  is  the 
power  by  which  this  may  be  done.  There  are  many  things 
to  be  done  in  applying  this  power.  I  offered  some  consid- 
erations to  show  that  Christian  baptism  is  a  part  of  worship; 
that  it  is  a  part  of  the  duty  required  by  Christian  law. 
Prayer  is  also  a  part  of  the  worship.  These  are  means  to 
help  us  to  purge  our  consciences.  The  text  which  we  are 
presenting  tells  us  where  the  whole  power  lies.  The  power 
lies  in  the  blood  of  Christ.  It  is  by  faith,  by  prayer,  by 
repentance,  by  baptism  that  this  power  is  made  available. 
The  power  must  come  to  our  hearts.  These  means  are 
alluded  to  in  the  Bible.  I  want  to  present  the  Gospel.  God 
forbid  that  I  should  preach  anything  but  Christ  as  the  power 
by  which  sin  may  be  removed  from  our  consciences.  When 
this  is  done,  then  we  can  serve  God  acceptably.  We  will 
love  the  service  of  God.      We  will  be  born  of  God  when  we 


160  SEKMONS   OF 

become  Christians.  He  loves  everything  that  is  pure,  holy 
and  right.  So  will  we.  God  hates  everything  that  is 
impure  and  unholy,  and  so  do  we.  We  will  therefore  love 
the  service  of  God.  To  a  Christian,  "  his  commandments 
are  not  grievous." — 1  John  v.  3. 

We  must  serve  God  from  proper  motives.  The  less 
thought  of  self  that  we  have  in  God's  service,  the  better  it 
will  be  for  us.  The  Bible  doctrine  of  self-denial  grows  out 
of  these  facts.  If  we  make  God  our  object  in  life,  we  will 
have  grand  principles  actuating  and  moving  us.  Everything 
that  we  do,  we  should  do  with  but  one  object  in  view,  the 
glory  of  God.  Die  to  self  and  live  to  God.  Do  all  for  him. 
In  the  great  end  it  will  be  best  for  us.  The  holier  the  ser- 
vice, the  greater  the  reward  will  be.  Let  us  take  an  illustra- 
tion. We  will  take  the  Christian  grace  of  benevolence.  Here 
is  a  rich  man.  He  is  a  professor  of  religion.  He  has  a  large 
amount  of  wealth.  He  gives  but  little.  When  he  is  called 
upon  to  give  to  any  charitable  object,  he  replies,  "  I  can  not 
give,  because  I  must  take  care  of  what  I  have  for  my  chil- 
dren." He  then  gives  his  small  contribution  with  great 
reluctance.  He  goes  through  the  form  of  giving,  but  he 
does  not  have  the  spirit.  It  is  said  by  the  Saviour,  "  That 
the  rich  man  also  died."  Hich  men  as  well  as  poor  men 
must  die.  You  remember  the  beautiful  illustration  of  the 
Saviour  of  the  day  of  final  judgment,  when  he  says  of  the 
righteous,  "  For  I  was  hungered  and  ye  gave  me  meat ;  I 
was  thirsty  and  ye  gave  me  drink;  I  was  a  stranger  and  ye 
took  me  in,"  etc.  Then  shall  the  righteous  answer  him,  say- 
ing, "  Lord,  when  saw  we  thee  a-hungered  and  fed  thee, 
thirsty  and  gave  thee  drink,"  etc.  Then  the  King  shall  answer 
and  say  unto  them,  "Verily,  I  say  unto  you,  Inasmuch  as  ye 
have  done  it  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these  my  brethren,  ye 
have  done  it  unto  me."  That  is  the  spirit  that  must  prompt 
and  move  us.     The  welfare  of  humanity   should   ever   be 


ELDER   JAMES   QUINTER  161 

before  our  minds.  Whatever  is  done  to  Christ's  church  is 
done  to  him.  Those  who  give  will  receive  that  which  they 
have  given.  Those  who  have  given  nothing  will  die,  and 
their  wealth  will  be  lost  and  they  with  it.  Serve  God  and 
you  will  serve  yourselves.  Serve  God  honestly,  and  faith- 
fully, and  you  will  reap  a  larger  reward! 

It  is  one  of  the  grand  truths  of  Christianity  that  Christ 
can  take  everything  out  of  the  way  that  hinders  us  from 
serving  God.  Remember  that  our  most  pleasant  service 
should  be  that  of  doing  God's  will.  The  better  we  perform 
this  duty,  the  more  it  will  redound  to  our  glory  and  happi- 
ness in  the  end. 

My  Christian  friends,  try  to  do  your  duty  to  God  cheer- 
fully and  faithfully.  And  you  who  have  not  yet  engaged 
in  the  service  of  God,  seek  the  removal  of  the  obstacles  that 
ai*e  in  the  way,  and  that  are  hindering  you,  and  enter  into 
his  vineyard  and  labor,  and  you  will  receive  with  all  the 
faithful,  an  "  exceeding  great  reward." 


MAN'S  WANTS,  AND  HIS  SUPPLIES. 

"  He  that  spared  not  his  own  Son,  but  delivered  him  up 
for  us  all,  how  shall  he  not  with  him  also  freely  give  us  all 
things?"— Rom.  8:  32. 

Man's  wants  are  evidently  presented  to  us  here  in  a  very 
clear  and  impressive  manner.  "  He  that  spared  not  his  own 
Son."  Who  spared  not  his  own  Son  ?  God  spared  not  his 
own  Son,  but  gave  him  up  for  us,  and  when  that  was  done, 
that  was  not  all.     "  He  that  spared  not  his  Son,  but   deliv- 


162  Seemons  of 

ered  him  up  for  us  all,  how  shall  he  not  with  him  also  freely 
give  us  all  things?"  Not  only  did  he  give  his  Son,  but  he 
will  give  us  all  things!  This  idea  suggests  our  wants, and 
our  supplies.  "Delivered  up  his  Son."  Necessity  required 
it,  and  he  was  ready  and  willing  to  give  us  not  only  his  Son, 
but  even  more.  Our  wants  are  deep  and  numerous,  but  our 
supplies  are  ample.  Look  upon  the  little  child,  the  human 
babe.  It  is  one  of  the  most  helpless  of  beings  that  we  can 
behold.  Look  at  the  child  in  its  mother's  arms,  and  in  its 
mother's  lap,  and  when  we  see  the  parents  taking  such  great 
care  of  it,  we  are  impressed  with  the  helplessness  of  the  babe. 
And  the  thought  is  sometimes  entertained,  and  language  to 
this  effect  is  used,  that  when  it  grows  up  and  can  run  about 
and  ])lay,  it  will  be  more  free  from  the  parent's  charge,  more 
independent  of  father  and  mother;  that  it  will  not  have.so 
many  wants.  But  it  is  right  the  reverse  of  this.  There  is 
never  a  time  in  our  being,  from  our  infancy  to  the  most  dis- 
tant point  in  our  future  existence  that  the  imagination  can 
reach,  that  we  are  less  dependent  than  in  infancy.  For  as 
the  babe  grows  up  to  childhood,  and  as  childhood  passes  into 
youth,  and  as  the  intellect  begins  to  develop,  education  is 
necessary  to  meet  the  wants  of  that  intellect,  which  were 
not  to  be  met  when  the  child  was  in  its  infancy.  And  after 
awhile  not  only  will  its  intellectual  wants  need  to  be  met, 
but  there  will  be  a  development  of  moral  feelings,  and  these 
will  require  attention  and  cultivation.  And  so  we  go  on, 
and  our  wants  in  some  degree  multiply  as  our  years  multi- 
ply, and  there  never  will  be  a  time  in  our  existence  that  we 
will  not  want  much ;  there  is  never  a  time  coming  in  which 
we  as  men  and  women  will  be  independent.  There  is  no 
being  that  God  has  made,  from  the  highest  archangel,  that 
approaches  in  its  great  moral  character  Jehovah  himself, 
down  to  the  lowest  created  being  that  is  independent  of  God. 
We  all  have  wants,  and  as  our  years  multiply  our  wants 
increase  and  multiply. 


ELDER    JAMES    QUINTER.  163 

If  we,  my  Christian  friends,  have  been  renewed  in  the 
spirit  of  our  minds ;  if  we  have  been  converted  from  the 
error  of  our  ways,  we  have  need  of  divine  grace  to  help  us. 
And  if  you,  my  unconverted  friends,  are  yet  in  the  "gall 
of  bitterness  and  bonds  of  iniquity,"  guilty,  unpardoned,  and 
your  souls  away  from  God,  O  the  depth  of  your  needs !  O 
the  multiplicity  of  your  wants !  They  are  such  that  no 
other  being  can  supply  them  but  God.  To  no  other  place 
can  we  go  to  have  our  wants  supplied  but  God's  throne  of 
grace. 

We  are  guilty,  if  never  pardoned ;  guilty,  if  never  con- 
verted. We  need  pardon.  We  need  forgiveness.  We  need 
to  be  renewed  in  the  spirit  of  our  minds.  We  need  to  be 
regenerated  in  our  moral  natures ;  for  a  change  not  less  than 
regeneration,  a  change  not  less  than  passing  from  death  to 
life,  will  fit  or  prepare  us  for  heaven  and  immortality. 

O  friends,  it  is  not  a  few  years  in  the  Christian  Church; 
it  is  not  a  few  penitential  tears  that  are  dropped  ;  it  is  not  a 
few  formal  prayers  that  are  offered  up  to  God  ;  it  is  not  a 
mere  formal  observance  of  the  rites  of  the  Christian  Church 
that  train  the  soul  for  heaven  and  fit  it  to  rest  in  the  bosom 
of  God  and  enjoy  the  blessed  influence  of  his  divine  pres- 
ence. If  any  of  us  have  fallen  into  such  a  sad  mistake, 
may  God  remove  the  delusion  from  our  hearts  and  show  us, 
instead  of  such  a  course,  the  necessity  of  holiness  of  heart 
and  consecration  of  life  if  we  would  see  God. 

We  must  be  born  again.  We  must  be  renewed  in  the 
very  spirit  of  our  minds.  We  must  be  made  anew  in  Christ. 
Old  things  must  pass  away.  Is  that  your  feeling?  Is  that 
your  idea  and  Christian  creed  ?  Are  we  acting  on  these 
principles  ?  Do  they  enter  into  the  daily  meditations  of  our 
hearts?  Do  they  lead  us  into  a  candid  self-examination  of 
heart  ?  And  if  these  principles  are  accepted  by  us,  we  can 
not  fail  to  give  a  serious  consideration  to  them.     We  need 


164  SERMONS    OF 

forgiveness ;  but  O,  my  brethren  and  sisters,  we  need  also 
sanctification.  We  need  holiness  of  heart ;  we  need  holiness 
of  life ;  for  "  without  holiness  no  man  shall  see  God."  We 
need  the  restoration  of  the  lost  image  of  God  to  our  moral 
natures.  We  need  to  resemble  Christ.  We  need  the  spirit 
of  adoption,  that  Ave  may  call  the  eternal  God  our  Father. 
These  are  our  wants.  These  are  but  imperfect  statements 
of  our  wants ;  these  are  but  mere  sketches  of  our  wants,  and 
yet  there  are  souls  living,  dying  men  and  women,  gliding 
along  the  stream  of  life,  cheerful,  prayerless,  giddy  and  gay, 
without  once  thinking  of  what  a  great  change  they  must 
undergo  or  be  lost  forever.  They  must  experience  this. 
These  wants  must  be  met.  The  subject  must  be  pardoned. 
Forgiveness,  justification,  sanctification — these  must  be  pro- 
cured preparatory  to  our  final  glorification. 

Numerous  as  our  wants  are,  God  can  supply  them  all. 
And  he  alone  can  supply  them.  Our  wants  are  not  only 
many,  but  they  are  great,  and  there  is  something  peculiar 
about  them.  The  little  babe,  as  I  said  aAvhile  ago,  lies 
in  its  mother's  lap,  its  wants  can  be  attended  to  by  her. 
The  mother,  standing  related  to  that  child  as  she  does, 
can  meet  the  wants  of  that  child.  She  can  nurse  and 
clothe  it.  Wants  of  this  kind  can  be  met.  But  when 
the  child  gets  to  that  stage  to  which  I  alluded  awhile 
ago,  it  demands  more  than  the  father  and  mother  can 
give.  The  parents  may  educate  that  child.  They  may 
not  only  teach  it  the  rudiments  of  education.  But  after 
awhile  the  child  gets  to  the  stage  when  its  moral  nature 
becomes  developed  and  expands,  and  this  requires  at- 
tention. When  it  expands  into  a  guilty  life,  and  becomes 
polluted  with  vice  and  wickedness,  its  mother  can  not  sup- 
ply its  wants.  With  all  her  maternal  kindness,  and  with  all 
her  tender  heart  of  love,  and  with  all  the  warm  and  gush- 
ing atfections  of  the  father's  heart,  all  combined  together, 


ELDER  JAMES  QUINTER.  165 

can  not  reach  the  moral  wants  of  that  child.  In  the  lan- 
guage of  David,  in  the  49th  Psalm,  "  None  can  by  any 
means  redeem  his  brother,  nor  give  to  God  a  ransom  for 
him."  No  man  c»n  do  it.  But  while  no  man  can  give  the 
ransom  even  of  a  child,  God  has  given  a  ransom  for  all  of 
us.  Here  our  wants  become  peculiar,  and  so  peculiar  that 
no  source  can  supply  these  wants  but  God.  He  alone  can 
do  it,  through  Christ  the  mediator.  Our  wants  become  so 
peculiar  that  none  but  Jesus  can  help  us  as  sinners. 

Some  time  ago  I  read  of  a  poor,  dark,  and  guilt}'  Hotten- 
tot of  Africa,  that  became  impressed  with  his  guilt.  He 
was  a  man  given  to  very  bad  habits,  and  he  became  con- 
cerned. He  went  about  among  his  friends,  talking  in  regard 
to  his  condition,  and  wishing  to  know  where  to  obtain  relief. 
Finally  he  heard  Christ  preached  as  the  ransom  for  all  sin. 
He  came  to  the  missionary  and  said  he  wanted  to  become 
acquainted  with  Christ.  He  was  led  to  Christ  and  there 
found  what  he  longed  for.  Others  pointed  him  to  witch- 
craft, and  other  superstitious  remedies,  but  all  was  insuf- 
ficient, until  he  applied  to  Christ,  and  there  he  found  all 
that  he  needed  to  supply  his  deep  religious  wants.  Peculiar 
wants,  yes,  but  in  God,  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
they  can  be  supplied.  Don't  forget  that,  don't  stand  still, 
don't  live  indifferently,  and  then  think  that  anywhere,  or  at 
any  time,  or  in  any  way  we  can,  when  disease  approaches, 
and  when  the  approach  of  death  is  apparent,  become  con- 
verted. The  soul  is  too  valuable  to  be  lost.  Heaven  is  too 
desirable  for  us  to  run  the  risk  of  losing  it.  Look  at  the 
value  of  the  soul,  and  desirability  of  heaven  as  our  final 
home. 

God  is  amply  able  to  supply.  Look  at  the  text  again. 
"  He  that  spared  not  his  own  Son  ;  but  delivered  him  for  us, 
how  shall  he  not  with  him  also  freely  give  us  all  things?" 
Has  God  given  his  own  Son?    What  a  thought!    Delivered 


166  SEfJMONS    OF 

him  up?  To  whom?  To  his  friends  that  embraced  him, 
that  treated  him  kindly ;  delivered  him  up  to  them?  No; 
delivered  him  up  to  his  enemies — to  wicked  men.  From 
the  height  of  his  exaltation,  excellency  and  glory,  God 
looked  down  upon  that  locality  in  Palestine,  where  our  sal- 
vation was  worked  out,  and  saw  the  shameful,  ignominious 
and  terrible  treatment  that  the  Saviour  met  at  the  hands  of 
his  persecutors.  He  knew  before  the  Saviour  was  born  in 
the  world,  that  such  would  be  the  treatment  that  he  would 
receive  from  men.  Notwithstanding  all  this  he  gave  him  up. 
Our  wants  were  so  pressing.  The  necessity  was  so  apparent. 
It  was  the  ruin  of  our  race  or  the  sacrifice  of  Christ.  No 
other  alternative;  and  when  God  comprehended  the  true 
condition  of  things,  he  gave  his  Son.  Lived  a  life  of  suffer- 
ing, and  died  as  you  know  the  ignominious  death  of  the 
cross.  Delivered  up  his  own  Son ;  permitted  him  to  become 
the  sin-offering  for  us.     Is  that  all  God  will  do?    Oh,  no! 

"  He  that  delivered  up  his  Son will  freely  give  ua 

all  things."  What  a  thought  of  God!  Paul's  language  was 
encouraging;  my  subject  is  an  encouraging  one,  and  I  want 
to  encourage  you,  my  friends.  "When  we  have  confidence  in 
God's  goodness,  and  when  we  see  what  he  has  already  done 
for  us,  we  are  encouraged. 

Suppose  that  one  of  us  in  our  financial  affairs  were  to 
become  troubled  and  embarrassed,  and  would  be  at  the  point 
of  losing  everj^thing  we  have,  and  be  reduced,  perhaps,  from 
plenty  down  to  the  extremity  of  want;  but  we  have  got 
some  friend  whom  we  know  can  render  the  assistance  that 
the  case  calls  for.  We  go  to  that  friend  and  present  our 
case  and  tell  him  our  sad  story.  Tiie  rehearsal  of  our 
troubles  has  the  desired  effect,  and  it  reaches  his  heart, 
moves  his  sympathy  towards  us,  and  he  promises  to  help  us, 
but  it  requires  on  his  part  the  sacritice  of  things  that  are 
most  dear  to  him.     However,  he  gives  us  the  desired  help. 


ELDER    JAMES    QUINTER.  167 

Trouble  passes  away,  and  the  sunshine  of  peace  beams  upon 
our  hearts  to  the  awakening  of  joy  and  pleasure  in  our 
minds.  But  suppose  again,  that,  a  few  months  after  this, 
we  are  ag-ain  thrown  into  the  same  trouble.  Would  we  feel 
like  going  to  that  friend  again  for  help?  Oh,  I  should  think 
we  would  do  almost  like  Dr.  Tanner  in  New  York,  who  is 
trying  to  fast  for  certain  purposes.  We  would  almost  try 
to  fast  for  weeks  and  work  along  the  best  way  we  could, 
because  it  would  be  so  unpleasant  for  us  to  go  to  that  friend 
again  for  help.  We  would  never  go  unless  we  were  driven 
by  sheer  necessity,  after  receiving  such  a  gift  and  blessing 
from  our  kind  friend. 

Our  race  went  to  God  and  appealed  to  him  in  their  lost 
condition  for  help,  and  he  gave  his  only  beloved  Son,  his 
only  begotten  Son — Christ — the  best  of  all  gifts.  He  gave 
him  to  become  a  sin-offering  for  us.  But  now  he  gives  us 
further  whatever  we  want.  This  is  the  God  that  ungrateful 
men  and  women  are  sinning  against;  this  is  the  God  that 
they  will  not  serve.  That  Saviour  that  died  for  us  is  the 
Saviour  that  we  will  not  follow.  Oh,  what  guilt!  Oh,  who 
would  take  that  measure  of  guilt  upon  him?  The  simple 
guilt  of  ingratitude,  is  enough  to  damn  the  soul  forever.  Oh, 
what  must  be  the  future  of  the  sinner  who  persists  in  sin, 
and  never  tries  to  serve  God  !  ^ 

But  more  directly  to  the  point,  the  encouragement  of  our 
text.  "  He  that  spared  not  his  own  Son,  but  delivered  him 
up  for  us  all,  how  shall  he  not  with  hira  also  freely  give  us 
all  things."  There  is  a  grand  principle  contained  in  this. 
If  God  gave  the  greater^  he  xoill  give  the  less.  And  as  he  gave 
the  great  gift  of  his  Son,  he  will  give  whatever  else  is 
needed.     We  need  not  be  afraid  to  go  to  God. 

The  apostle  James  says,  "If  any  man  lacks-wisdom,  let 
him  ask  of  God,  that  giveth  to  all  men  liberally  and  up- 
braideth  not."     He  will  not  say  to  us,  are  you  here  again  ? 


168  SERMONS   OF 

Are  you  begging  again  ?  Are  you  at  my  throne  of  grace, 
begging  and  pleading  again  ?  -  Oh,  no.  God  beckons  us  to 
come.  If  we  are  empty,  God  says,  "Come;"  and  he  will 
pour  out  his  Spirit.  "  He  that  spared  nob  his  own  Son,  but 
delivered  him  up  for  us  all,  how  shall  he  not  with  him  also 
freely  give  us  all  things?"  Don't  overlook  that  word  freely. 
He  delights  to  give.  No  money  is  required  but  he  will  give 
it  freely  without  money  and  without  price,  if  we  humble  our- 
selves under  his  mighty  hand,  and  if  we  appropriate  his  bless- 
ings to  his  glory  and  service. 


XI. 

SOME  OF  THE  CHAEACTERISTICS  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

"  In  whom  ye  also  trusted,  after  that  ye  heard  the  word 
of  truth,  the  gospel  of  your  salvation :  in  whom  also,  after 
that  ye  believed,  ye  were  sealed  with  that  Holy  Spirit  of 
promise,  which  is  the  earnest  of  our  inheritance  until  the 
redemption  of  the  purchased  possession,  unto  the  praise  of 
His  glory."— Eph.  1 :  13,  14. 

Our  s^ibject  will  be  some  of  the  characteristics  of  the 
(lospel,  with  some  of  its  effects  as  here  represented.  The 
first  characteristic  of  it  is  said  to  be  the  word  of  truth  :  *'  In 
whom  ye  also  trusted,  after  that  ye  heard  the  word  of  truth." 
This  is  one  of  the  characteristics  of  the  Gospel,  and  it  is  a 
distinguishing  one.  It  is  the  word  of  truth,  or,  if  you 
please,  it  is  the  truth  ;  the  expression  of  truth,  the  represen- 
tation of  truth,  or,  to  drop  everything  else,  it  is  the  truth. 

There  are  many  things  false  in  the  world.  Solomon 
said,  in  drawing  upon  his  vast  resources  of  human  experi- 
ence and  human  knowledge,  "  all  is  vanity."     He  looked 


ELDEK    JAMES    QUINTER.  169 

over  the  world  in  all  stages  of  society,  in  all  the  forms  that 
he  had  humanity  presented  to  him  in,  and  there  saw  so 
much  emptiness ;  there  saAv  so  much  falsehood,  and  so  little 
that  was  dignified  and  grand  among  the  race  that  he  said 
"•'  all  is  vanity."  We  are  not  to  conclude  that  there  was  no 
good  in  his  age;  we  are  not  to  conclude  that  he  had  lost 
all  confidence  in  humanity.  But  when  he  used  the  phrase 
"  all  is  vanity,"  we  must  conclude  that  the  predominating 
tendency  of  things  was  to  vanity,  emptiness  and  evil.  There 
is  so  much  error  and  falsehood  in  the  world,  that  we  should 
be  careful  when  we  lay  down  the  novel,  or  newspaper  of 
the  day,  or  even  a  volume  of  history,  with  some  doubts  of 
the  truthfulness  of  all  their  statements,  and  take  up  the 
Bible,  that  we  do  not  feel  the  same  hesitancy  in  accepting 
the  statements  of  the  latter  that  we  do  in  receiving  those  of 
the  former.  We  should  be  very  careful  when  we  turn  to 
the  holy  book  of  inspiration,  lest  we  open  its  pages  with  the 
same  hesitation,  and  Avith  the  same  want  of  belief  in  the 
authenticity  of  its  contents,  as  we  often  do  in  reading  the 
productions  to  which  I  have  alluded.  Open  the  Bible,  the 
gospel  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  young  men  and  maidens, 
children  and  parents,  saints  and  sinners,  with  the  deep  and 
strong  conviction  that  whatever  falsehood  there  is  outside 
of  that  book,  in  it  there  is  truth,  and  the  whole  truth.  It  is 
the  word  of  God  and  can  he  lief  It  is  the  word  of  holy 
inspiration,  and  that  can  not  err;  consequently  the  Gospel  is 
the  word  of  truth.  All  it  contains  is  true.  Every  delinea- 
tion of  human  character  is  true.  Every  charge  He  makes 
to  us  as  sinners  is  true.  Every  fact  that  it  states  is  true. 
Every  prophecy  that  is  to  be  fulfilled  in  the  future  is  true. 
Every  historic  fact  is  true ;  consequently  all  is  true.  Its 
great,  weighty  and  important  statements  are  all  true.  It  is 
a  truth  that  there  is  a  solemn  future  for  us  all,  and  it  is  an 
eternal  truth  that  there  is  a  day  of  retribution  coming.     It 


170  SERMONS   OF 

is  true  that  the  "  wicked  shall  be  turned  into  hell,  and  all 
the  nations  that  forget  God  ";  and  it  is  a  truth  that  the 
righteous  shall  go  away  into  everlasting  life.  The  Word 
then,  is  true.  Remember  these  truths,  and  in  remembering 
them  let  that  remembrance  elicit  from  you  the  attention  that 
you  ought  to  give  it. 

The  next  characteristic  of  the  Gospel,  as  we  have  it 
stated  in  our  text,  is  "  the  gospel  of  your  salvation."  "  In 
whom  ye  also  trusted,  after  that  ye  heard  the  word  of  truth, 
the  gospel  of  your  salvation."  Whose  salvation?  Is  it  the 
gospel  of  salvation  to  fallen  and  guilty  angels,  who  have 
departed  from  the  path  of  rectitude  and  fallen  under  the 
displeasure  of  the  Almighty?  No;  it  is  the  gospel  of  our 
salvation.  The  Son  of  God  took  not  upon  Himself  the 
nature  of  angels  to  make  atonement  for  them,  but  he  took 
upon  Himself  our  nature  to  make  atonement  for  our  guilt ; 
and  in  becoming  our  Saviour  He  hais  given  us  a  gospel 
of  the  salvation  He  has  provided  us  with ;  and  in  the  text 
the  gospel  is  called  the  gospel  of  your  salvation ;  I  want 
that  emphasized.  Paul  used  it  when  talking  to  his  brethren 
at  Ephesus — yonr  salvation — perhaps  intending  to  make  a 
distinction  there  between  the  Jews  and  Gentiles.  The 
church  at  Ephesus  was  mostly  made  up  of  converts  from  the 
Gentile  world.  The  Jews  at  that  time  endeavored  to 
monopolize  all  the  blessings  of  the  gospel,  in  the  mistaken 
idea  that  it  was  for  them  alone  that  salvation  was  provided. 
Paul,  to  encourage  his  Gentile  brethren,  says  it  is  your  salva- 
tion. But  I  tell  you  to-day  that  the  gospel  we  preach  is  the 
gospel  of  your  salvation  as  well  as  the  Jews.  It  is  to  offer 
salvation  to  you,  to  the  Gentile  world,  as  well  as  to  the 
Jews.  And  I  say  with  emphasis  this  morning,  in  direct 
personal  application  to  the  congregation  assembled  here,  that 
this  is  the  gospel  of  your  salvation.  You  may  well  assemble 
in  our  chapel  here  on  the  Lord's  day  morning  to  hear  the 


ELDER  JAMES   QUINTEE.  171 

gospel;  you  may  well  resort  to  such  places.  And  why? 
Because  you  are  interested  in  listening  to  the  gospel  preached, 
and  you  are  concerned  in  its  announcement,  for  it  is  the 
gospel  of  your  salvation.  It  is  man's  salvation,  the  sal- 
vation of  our  race,  of  our  community,  and  of  individuals. 
In  what  sense  is  it  the  gospel  of  our  salvation?  I  embrace 
myself  with  those  to  whom  the  thought  comes  addressed. 
It  is  the  gospel  of  our  salvation  because,  if  its  instructions 
are  heeded,  if  its  lessons  are  studied,  it  will  teach  us  all  that 
we  need  salvation.  This  is  one  reason,  and  it  is  a  good  one. 
If  we  regard  the  teaching  of  the  gospel  we  will  discover  that 
we  need  salvation.  How  did  we  learn  that  we  needed 
salvation  ?  It  was  by  reading  God's  word,  and  because  we 
were  born  in  a  land  of  Bibles.  If  we  had  been  born  away 
out  among  the  heathens  of  our  Territories,  would  we  be  the 
Christian  members  of  the  Church  that  we  are?  Would  we 
be  happy  in  Christ  and  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  Christian's 
peace  ?  No,  Our  minds  would  be  as  void  and  as  blank  of  the 
doctrine  of  Christian  truth  as  the  minds  of  the  wild  men  of  the 
"West  are.  It  was  by  the  instruction  that  we  received  from  the 
gospel  that  we  learned  we  were  bad  boys  and  girls,  and 
were  impressed  with  a  sense  of  our  gilt.  It  has  made  us 
feel  the  need  of  salvation?  How  does  it  do  that?  It  does 
it  in  various  ways.  I  can  not  tell  you  all,  but  will  mention 
one,  and  that  is  this :  The  gospel  holds  out  for  us  a  proper 
standard  of  right  and  wrong.  It  shows  what  is  to  be  done 
and  what  is  not  to  be  done.  It  presents  unto  us  the  will  of 
God  as  the  standard  of  right.  Well,  what  has  that  to  do 
with  showing  us  the  way  of  salvation?  It  presents  us  with 
the  standard  of  right,  and  shows  us  how  to  compare  our 
lives  with  that  standard  of  right.  Do  our  conduct  and 
our  principles  correspond  with  the  will  of  God?  If 
they  do  not  we  are  guilty  of  a  departure  from  that 
law,  and  if  there  is  a  discrepancy  between  our  lives  and 


172  SERMONS   OF 

conduct  and  the  divine  law,  that  discrepanc}^  proves 
our  guilt.  It  must  prove  either  our  guilt  on  the  one 
side,  or  the  falsity  of  the  standard  of  right  on  the 
other.  But  that  can  not  be.  The  will  of  God  is  the  stand- 
ard of  right,  and  in  proportion  to  our  departure  from  that 
will  we  are  guilty.  That's  the  idea.  It  is  the  gospel  of 
our  salvation.  It  shows  how  far  we  are  wrong,  where  wq 
are  wrong,  and  that  we  are  guilty. 

The  gospel  does  not  only  show  us  our  guilt,  or  prove  our 
guilt,  but  it  offers  us  pardon,  too.  It  offers  us  salvation.  It 
does  not  only  show  us  our  guilt  and  sins,  but  it  shows 
that  God  has  provided  a  ransom  for  our  sins.  It  shows  the 
remedy.  "While  it  shows  the  wound  it  provides  a  cure. 
Wliile  it  shows  the  wound  that  sin  has  produced  it  provides 
a  cure  in  the  Balm  of  Gi lead.  The  old  Prophet  Jeremiah, 
in  looking  at  the  moral  diseases  of  his  nation,  exclaimed, 
"  Oh,  that  my  head  were  waters,  and  mine  eyes  a  fountain 
of  tears,  that  I  might  weep  day  and  night  for  the  slain  of 
the  daughter  of  my  people  !  "  So  he  spoke  when  survey- 
ing the  deplorable  condition  of  his  race.  And  on  another 
occasion  he  said,  "  Is  there  no  balm  in  Gilead  ;  is  there  no 
physician  there  ?  "Why  then  is  not  the  health  of  the  daugh- 
ter of  my  people  recovered  ? ''  Ah !  he  knew  there  was 
power  in  the  Messiah.  He  knew  all  this,  and  he  wondered 
why  men  and  women  could  be  so  indifferent  to  their 
hifihest  interests  and  so  careless  of  their  moral  conduct  as 
to  go  on  in  sin,  subject  to  the  terrible  moral  diseases  of  sin, 
and  destined  to  meet  the  sinner's  eternal  doom.  The  gos- 
pel of  salvation  contains  the  remedy;  it  contains  Christ. 
It  is  the  gospel  that  holds  him  up.  Do  you  remember  that 
interesting  account  in  the  16th  chapter  of  Acts,  where  Paul 
and  Silas  dispossessed  the  damsel  of  the  evil  Spirit  ?  Bad 
Spirits  have  a  good  deal  of  knowledge.  Devils  don't 
always  lie.     They  sometimes  tell  the  truth  though  terribly 


ELDER  JAMES   QUINTER.  173 

mixed  with  error.  That  young  woman,  though  under  the 
influence  of  a  demon,  said,  referring  to  Paul  and  Silas, 
"  These  men  are  the  servants  of  the  Most  High  God,  which 
shew  unto  us  the  way  of  salvation."  You  will  probably 
remember  it,  but  perha}3S  it  never  struck  you  v^rith  such 
deep  force.  Oh,  that  is  the  grand  character  of  every  min- 
ister and  of  every  reformer  who  labors  to  raise  the  standard 
of  the  world's  moral  excellency  higher.  "  These  men  are  the 
servants  of  the  Most  High  God,  which  shew  unto  us  the 
way  of  salvation."  A  very  pretty  thought.  This  way  of 
salvation  must  be  showed  to  us.  Suppose  some  of  us  were 
traveling  away  from  home  this  morning,  or  were  in  pur- 
suit of  some  person  with  whom  we  had  business,  and  we 
knew  not  the  way  to  the  place  of  our  destination  or  where  to 
find  the  person  for  whom  ^v*  were  seeking.  We  would 
have  to  inquire,  and  somebody  would  have  to  tell  us.  Just 
so  in  regard  to  this  salvation.  Somebody  myst  teach  us 
the  way  of  salvation.  Why,  you  all  know  that  had  we  had 
no  teacher  in  our  childhood  to  teach  us  the  sciences  and 
the  different  branches  of  literature,  we  would  have,  in  all 
probabhty,  grown  up  in  ignorance.  It  is  true,  we  might 
have  learned  a  little  ourselves,  but  how  much  we  needed  a 
teacher  you  all  know.  We  all  get  them  for  our  chil- 
dren, in  order  that  they  might  not  grow  up  in  igno- 
rance. I  want  to  get  the  truth  plainly  before  you.  "  The 
gospel  of  your  salvation."  It  comes  to  us  and  teaches  us 
religion.  It  answers  the  same  purpose  in  religion  that  our 
school-books  do  in  our  public  schools.  I  want  you  to  revere 
the  Bible  more.  I  want  you  to  feel  that  it  is  the  book  that 
you  are  interested  in,  because  it  contains  the  way  of  salvation. 
'' These  men  are  the  servants  of  the  Most  High  God,"  be- 
cause they  show  unto  us  the  way  of  salvation.  Well,  what 
did  that  show  ?  I  will  connect  my  subject  with  the  case  of 
the  jailor  to  illustrate  my  point.     This  occurred  in  Philippi. 


174  SERMONS   OF 

Now  what  about  the  Philippian  jailor?  He  felt  guilty. 
And  what  did  he  say  ?  He  said  to  these  men,  "  Sirs,  Avhat 
must  I  do  to  be  saved  ?  "  Here  are  these  men  sent  by  God 
to  the  Philippian  jailor,  and  he  cries,  '"  Sirs,  what  must  1  do 
to  be  saved  ?  "  Did  they  answer  ?  Yes,  they  did.  They 
knew  their  business,  and  I  would  to  God  we  all  knew  it; 
and  to  the  question,  "  Sirs,  what  must  I  do  to  be  saved?" 
they  answered,  "  Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  thou 
shalt  be  saved  and  thy  house/'  There  they  made  known 
unto  him  the  way  of  salvation.  The  jailor  was  lost  and 
guilty,  corrupt  and  in  heathen  darkness.  He  saw  no  rays  of 
light  or  prospect  of  pardon,  and  overwhelmed  with  the 
sense  of  his  lost  condition,  from  the  depths  of  his  distressed 
heart  he  cried,  "  Sirs,  what  must  I  do  to  be  saved  ?"  and  they 
replied,  "  Believe  on  the  LorA  Jesus  Christ."  That  was  the 
doctrine  in  general.  Why  did  I  say  in  general  ?  because  a 
doctrine  stated  in  a  general  way  may  be  well  enough  in  its 
general  character,  but  we  must  not  always  be  satisfied  to 
accept  truth  on  its  generality.  The  truth  is  too  often  left 
in  its  generalized  form.  You  may  go  into  any  religious 
sanctuary  or  house  of  worship,  and  hear  the  minister  preach, 
and  you  will  be  very  likely  to  hear  him  recommend  the 
Bible.  As  a  general  truth  we  all  accept  the  Bible,  but  Avhen 
it  comes  down  to  the  details  of  the  Bible,  you  will  find  a 
division  of  sentiment.  The  truth  in  its  generalization,  the 
Bible  as  a  general  truth,  will  be  accepted  b\'  all.  But  it  is 
not  enough  that  we  preach  truth  in  its  general  character, 
but  we  must  come  down  to  details.  And  we  have  reason  to 
believe  Paul  did  so  in  preaching  to  the  jailor,  for  when  he 
said,  "  believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  what  followed  ? 
It  is  said  that  "  in  the  same  hour  of  the  night  the  jailor  was 
baptized,  rejoicing  in  God  with  all  his  house."  I  want  to 
know  how  the  jailor  knew  anything  about  baptism.  I  will 
tell  you  what  led  him  to  baptism.    Paul  condescended  to 


ELDER  JAMES  QDINTER.  175 

preach  the  truth  in  its  minute  details,  for  he  had  a  heathen 
audience  before  him.  He  had  individuals  before  him  that 
needed  much  instruction,  and,  as  a  master  teacher  in  making 
known  the  way  of  salvation,  he  came  down  to  details  and 
specifications.  He  preached  Christian  baptism  as  a  part  of 
the  way  of  salvation.     But  I  must  drop  the  thought. 

In  the  next  place  I  wish  to  notice  the  use  we  can  make 
of  the  gospel.  "  In  whom  ye  also  trusted,  after  that  ye 
heard  the  word  of  truth."  We  should  first  hear  the  word 
of  truth.  Give  the  Bit)le  a  respectable  hearing.  Whenever 
you  are  brought  into  contact  with  Christian  truths,  give 
them  a  proper  hearing.  Hear  the  Word  of  the  Lord.  Why 
hear  it?  Hear  it  because  it  is  the  gospel  of  your  salvation. 
That's  the  idea.  Some  people  sometimes  go  to  meeting  and 
don't  seem  to  go  to  hear,  and  they  don't  hear.  They  seem 
to  be  indifferent,  and  sometimes  stupid,  apparently  uncon- 
cerned. That  of  course  is  wrong  and  very  improper.  Last 
night  there  was  a  political  meeting  down  town,  a  demo- 
cratic meeting.  It  was  known  to  be  a  political  meeting 
and  a  tolerably  large  crowd  gathered,  and  for  what  pur- 
pose? Why,  to  hear  something  about  politics,  and  to  be 
encouraged  in  carrying  out  their  political  creed.  And,  I 
presume,  they  were  interested.  They  were  democrats  ;  and 
if  it  had  been  a  republican  meeting,  republicans  would  have 
been  there.  Now,  my  friends,  I  address  you  not  as  republi- 
cans, nor  as  democrats,  but  as  dying  men  and  women,  and 
I  bear  a  message  that  ought  to  interest  you  more  than  any 
political  speech.  It  contains  truths  identified  with  your 
highest  interests,  and  in  which  your  highest  interests  are 
involved.  And  can  you  be  unconcerned  ?  It  is  the  gospel  of 
our  salvation,  and  there  is  something  in  it  which  concerns  us. 
Hear  it  because  it  is  the  gospel  of  your  salvation,  and  be- 
cause there  is  something  in  it  which  greatly  concerns  you. 
Hear  the  gospel  because  it  comes  to  you  personally  and  be- 


17G  SERMONS   OF 

cause  it  concerns  you  individually,  and  then  believe  it  be- 
cause it  is  the  word  of'trutii.  How  plain  it  is!  How 
rational  and  philosophical !  Oh  !  my  hearers,  if  we  turn 
away  from  the  truth,  if  we  turn  away  from  God's  word, 
so  plain  and  clear,  what  will  save  us  from  the  ruin  that 
must  inevitably  follow  ?  "I  can  not  believe,"  says  one. 
That's  the  way  people  talk.  But  what  are  we  to  believe  ? 
We  are  to  believe  the  truth — the  Word  of  God.  Can  we 
not  believe  the  truth  ? 

The  third  step  in  the  use  we  are  to  make  of  the  gospel  is 
that  of  trust,  "In  whom  ye  also  trusted."  First  hear,  then 
believe,  and  then  trust.  Now,  why  trust?  First  hear,, 
because  we  are  concerned  ;  believe,  because  it  is  the  truth  ; 
and  trust,  because  it  is  the  gospel  of  your  salvation. 
Trust;  it  is  the  mighty  power  of  God.  Trust;  it  is  the  Son 
of  God  inviting  us  to  come.  Trust;  because  the  almighty 
power,  unerring  wisdom,  the  unmeasured  depths  of  mercy, 
and  the  compassion  and  benevolence  of  God  are  concerned 
in  the  matter.  Trust  what?  Simply  trust  God.  Trust 
Christ.  Take  your  guilty  hearts  and  lay  them  at  the  foot 
of  the  cross  on  which  the  Saviour  died.  Trust;  put  your- 
selves in  his  hands.  Trust ;  let  him  come  into  your  hearts. 
For  he  says,  "  Behold,  I  stand  at  the  door,  and  knock  :  if  any 
man  hear  my  voice,  and  open  the  door,  I  will  come  in  to  hira, 
and  will  sup  with  him,  and  he  with  me."  Can  you  trust  the 
Saviour  ?  Ought  you  not  to  trust  him  ?  Mxmt  you  not  trust 
him  or  be  guilty  of  the  greatest  irreverence  towards  him  ? 
Now  that's  just  what's  to  be  done  on  our  part.  First  hear, 
then  believe,  and  .then  trust.  That's  just  what  the  jailor  did. 
When  Paul  preached  Christ  to  the  jailor,  and  said,  "  believe 
on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  he  enlarged,  pressed  upon 
him  the  subject  grandly  and  encouragingly.  He  brought 
before  the  jailor  and  his  house  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  his 
divinity,  in  his  humanity,  in  his  pre-existent state,  and  m  his 


ELDER  JAMES   QUINTER.  1Y7 

future  glory.  These  things  were  all  brought  before  the 
jailor  as  connected  with  Christ.  And  he  trusted  him  for  sal- 
vation. The  jailor's  trust  was  a  trust  of  the  simplest  form. 
It  was  a  trust  in  its  practicalcharacter,  and  just  so  we  ought 
to  trust  him.  Why  can  not  we  all  trust  him  i  My  uncon- 
verted friends,  why  can  not  you  trust  in  Christ?  Whv 
can  not  you  trust  him  and  be  saved?  Trust,  and  then 
we  feel  that  we  are  safe.  Look  at  the  little  child  trustino- 
its  parents.  So  when  we  get  men  and  women  to  thus 
trust  Christ  aijd  follow  him  in  his  precepts  and  example,  we 
know  they  are  safe,  and  they  can  justly  feel  that  they  are 
safe. 

Another  point  yet  remains  to  be  noticed.  What  will  be 
the  consequences  of  a  popular  adherence  to  the  word  of 
the  Lord  ?  I  have  given  you  some  of  the  characteristics  of 
the  word  of  God  and  our  reception  of  it,  and  the  next 
point  would  be  the  consequences.  I  will  read  the  text  again  : 
"  In  whom  ye  also  trusted,  after  that  ye  heard  the  word  of 
truth  ;  the  gospel  of  your  salvation  ;  in  whom  also  after 
that  ye  believed,  ye  were  sealed  with  that  Holy  Spirit  of 
promise,  which  is  the  earnest  of  our  inheritance  until  the 
redemption  of  the  purchased  possession,  unto  the  praise  of 
his  glory."  "  In  whom  ye  were  sealed."  That's  after  you 
hear,  after  you  believe  and  after  you  trust  in  Christ.  Then 
you  are  sealed  with  the  Holy  Spirit  of  promise,  which  is 
the  earnest  of  our  inheritance.  The  reception  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  follows  trust  in  Christ.  Hence  the  teaching  on  the 
day  of  Pentecost,  when  the  inquiry  was  made,  "  Men  and 
brethren,  what  shall  we  do?"  The  answer  was,  "  Kepent 
and  be  baptized  every  one  of  you  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ 
for  the  remission  of  your  sins,  and  you  shall  receive  the 
gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost;"  and  in  our  text  "ye  were  sealed 
with  the  Holy  Spirit  of  promise."  Then  we  are  sealed 
with   it.     When  the   penitent  and  broken-hearted  receive 


178  SERMONS   OF 

Christ  they  become  new  creatures.  You  all  know  what  a 
seal  is.  When  the  seal  is  applied  to  wax  or  clay,  it  makes 
its  impression.  The  word  of  God  must  be  applied  to  the 
heart  by  the  Holy  Spirit  when  the  impression  of  the  Cliris- 
tian  character  will  be  delineated  in  that  heart.  The  impres- 
sion must  be  made  upon  our  lives.  We  must  be  sealed. 
Our  country  has  its  seal,  and  when  its  actions  tlirongh  the 
officers  are  authentic,  the  seal  is  used.  It  is  the  comfort  of 
the  Spirit  that  we  first  get.  This  is  the  earnest  of  the 
Spirit.  What  does  that  mean?  I  have  a  definition  here 
from  Webster  which  I  will  read  as  the  meaning,  of  the  word 
earnest:  "A  pledge  or  payment  given  as  an  assurance  of 
earnest  or  serious  purpose  to  discharge  an  engagement  or 
fulfill  a  promise  ;  a  token  of  what  is  to  come."  It  is  a 
pledge  of  God  to  us,  of  all  that  we  will  enjoy  at  the  end. 
When  we  enter  into  holy  covenant  with  God  and  promise 
to  be  his  forever,  he  says,  "  I  am  going  to  pay  you  a  certain 
amount  down,  and  I  am  going  to  give  you  my  Holy  Spirit  and 
this  will  be  an  earnest,  a  pledge,  that  in  due  time  I  will  pay 
the  last  installment  that  is  due  3"ou."  That's  the  earnest  of 
the  Spirit  that  we  get  when  we  enter  the  service  of  God.  I 
want  to  read  you  a  sentiment  from  one  of  the  ancient 
fathers,  Jerome.  When  he  looked  upon  the  enjoyment  the 
Christian  experiences  in  the  world,  he  said,  "  If  the  earnest 
is  so  great,  how  great  must  the  possession  be  ! "  That's  a 
beautiful  thought.  If  our  present  joy  that  we  experience 
is  so  great,  what  must  the  full  possession  be !  that  is,  when 
we  come  to  enjoy  what  God  has  promised  us.  That's  the 
idea,  and  it  is  a  pretty  one.  Tiien  let  us  trust  Christ  that 
we  may  receive  the  Spirit,  his  installment  now,  and  may 
God  keep  us  forever  to  enjoy  the  final  installment  in  the 
great  day  of  Eternity. 


ELDER   JAMES   QUINTEK.  179 

XIL 
THE  PICTUEE  OF  A  HAPPY  PEOPLE. 

"Rid  me,  and  deliver  rae  from  tlie  hand  of  strange  chil- 
dren, whose  mouth  speaketh  vanity,  and  their  right  hand  is 
a  right-hand  of  falsehood:  that  our  sons  may  be  as  plants 
grown  up  in  their  youth;  that  our  daughters  may  be  as 
corner-stones,  polished  after  tlie  similitude  of  a  palace ;  that 
our  garners  may  be  full,  affording  all  manner  of  store ;  that 
our  sheep  may  bring  forth  thousands  and  ten  thousands  in 
our  streets  ;  that  our  oxen  may  be  strong  to  labor ;  that 
there  be  no  breaking  in,  nor  going  out ;  that  there  be  no 
complaining  in  our  streets.  Happy  is  that  people,  that  is 
in  such  a  case ;  vea,  happy  is  that  people,  whose  God  is  the 
Lord."— Ps.  144:  11-15. 

Reference  is  not  made  to  an  individual,  but  to  a  body  of 
people.  "  Happy  is  that  people,  etc."  And  it  will  apply  to 
a  family,  to  a  community,  or  to  the  entire  body  constituting 
God's  peculiar  people.  There  is  a  propriety  in  referring  to 
a  body  of  people,  when  their  highest  enjoyment  is  described, 
rather  than  to  an  individual.  Man  to  be  perfectly  happy, 
or  to  attain  unto  the  highest  enjoyment  he  is  capable  of, 
must  be  in  society.  It  is  true,  he  can  be  very  happy  alone. 
If  a  believer  has  Christ  in  his  heart,  and  is  surrounded  by 
the  presence  of  God,  he  may  be  very  happy.  But  neverthe- 
less, we  tiiink  our  position  is  true,  that  to  attain  to  his 
highest  enjoyment,  man  must  be  in  society.  And  we  con- 
clude this  from  the  fact,  that  he  is  a  social  being,  and 
designed  for  society.  He  was  originally  created  with  a 
want  of  society,  and  an  adaptation  to  society. 

In  noticing  the  different  groups  which  constitute  the  pic- 
ture of  a  happy  people,  we  will  first  notice  the  youth  in  the 
picture  as  a  very  prominent  place  is  given  to  them  in  it. 
"That  our  sons  ma}^  be  as  plants  grown  up  in  their  youth; 
that  our  daughters  may  be  as  corner-stones,  polished  after 
the  similitude  of  a  palace."     Our  youth  can  not  be  neg- 


180  SERMONS   OF 

lected  or  overlooked  if  we  would  have  a  happy  community 
or  nation.  "  Our  sons  "  are  first  referred  to.  It  is  desired 
and  prayed  by  the  patriot,  King,  and  father,  that  'our  sons 
may  be  as  plants  grown  up  in  their  youth."  And  what  is 
meant  by  this  ?  It  is  not  desired  that  they  grow  up  as  fops 
in  pride,  in  idleness,  and  extravagance.  But  it  is  desired  and 
prayed  that  the}''  grow  up  in  manliness,  and  that  there  be 
a  full  development  of  their  manhood;  that  they  grow  as  the 
plant  grows ;  that  there  be  life,  and  growth,  and  fruitful- 
ness,  that  those  around  them  may  be  refreshed  and  blessed 
by  them.  And  in  attaining  to  the  full  development  of  their 
manhood,  there  must  be  a  healthy  culture  of  their  physical 
nature  that  it  may  be  fully  developed  and  matured,  and  also 
a  cultivation  and  development  of  their  intellectual  nature. 
The  mind  must  by  no  means  be  neglected,  as  it  is  a  very 
important  element  in  our  manhood.  If  we  look  at  the 
American  Indian  in  his  uncivilized  state,  we  see  in  many 
instances  a  fine  physical  body.  But  the  higher  depart- 
ments of  his  nature  are  not  developed,  and  hence  in  his  wild 
or  uncivilized  state  he  is  far  from  being  a  perfect  specimen 
of  humanity,  though  there  is  a  fine  physical  development. 
And  our  sons  to  grow  up  into  perfect  manhood,  must  also 
give  attention  to  the  culture  of  their  moral  or  spiritual' 
nature.  There  is  surely  such  a  nature  in  man,  and  to  develop 
it  properly  it  needs  if  possible  still  greater  attention  and 
cultivation  than  it  does  to  cultivate  our  physical  and  intel- 
lectual nature.  There  can  be  no  doubt  but  that  David  in 
desiring  and  praying  for  the  sons  and  daughters  of  his  peo- 
ple included  in  the  accomplishments  he  desired  for  them 
those  of  a  religious  or  spiritual  character.  These  consti- 
tute too  large  a  part  of  real  manhood  and  womanhood  to  be 
left  out.  The  character  of  any  man  or  of  any  woman  is 
very  imperfect  that  does  not  embrace  the  religious  element 
in  it. 


ELDER  JAMES  QUINTER.  181 

That  the  religious  element  is  recognized  in  the  picture  of 
a  happ3^  people  as  drawn  here  by  David,  is  very  evident 
from  the  conclusion  of  the  subject :  "  Happy  is  that  people, 
whose  God  is  the  Lord/'  The  religious  character  of  the 
happy  people  will  be  referred  to  again,  but  we  refer  to  it 
here  to  show  that  it  was  a  part  of  the  beautiful  accomplish- 
ments desired  for  the  youth  of  the  Jewish  commonwealth, 
and  must  form  a  part  of  the  young  everywhere  and  at  all 
times,  or  there  will  be  but  a  very  imperfect  development  of 
their  character. 

There  is  another  idea  in  reference  to  "our  sons"  in  the 
subject  that  has  struck  our  mind  very  forcibly.  The  desire 
is  that  "  our  sons  may  be  as  plants  grown  up  in  their  youth." 
What  is  remarkable  is  that  they  should  be  desired  to  grow 
up  in  their  youth.  The  way  w^e  commonly  look  at  the'young, 
we  consider  they  have  passed  out  of  their  youth  when  they 
have  reached  their  majority,  or  when  they  are  grown  up. 
But  David's  language  would  seem  to  imply  that  in  a  certain 
sense  they  may  be  grown  up  while  in  their  youth.  And 
there  is  a  sense  in  which  our  boys  and  girls  may  be  men  and 
women  while  yet  in  their  youth.  Boys  and  girls  sometimes 
show  a  discretion,  a  maturity  of  judgment  and  steadiness  of 
conduct  much  bejond  their  age.  And  we  say  of  such  that 
they  are  manly  and  womanly  in  their  behavior.  There 
seems  to  be  an  illustration  of  this  in  the  case  of  Timothy. 
Paul,  in  addressing  him,  I.  Tim.  i:  12,  says,  "Lei  no  man 
despise  thy  youth;  but  be  thou  an  example  of  the  believers 
in  word,  in  conversation,  in  charity,  in  spirit,  in  faith,  in 
purity."  Jlere  Timothy  is  spoken  to  as  a  youth.  But  in 
another  part  of  the  same  epistle  when  the  apostle  is  admon- 
ishing him  to  guard  against  certain  temptations  to  which  he 
was  exposed,  he  uses  the  following  language  :  "  But  thou,  O 
man  of  God,  flee  these  things,  and  follow  after  righteousness, 
godliness,  faith,  love,  patience,  meekness." — L  Tim.  6  ;  11, 


182  SERMONS    OF 

So  he  was  both  a  "youth"  and  a  "man  of  God."  He  was 
a  youth  in  years,  but  a  man  in  character  and  conduct.  And 
you,  dear  youth,  may  be  men  and  women  in  noble  character 
and  discreet  behavior  while  you  are  yet  young.  This  is  very 
desirable;  and  to  this  we  admonish  you,  and  for  this  we 
pray.  It  was  this  manly  and  womanly  behavior  that  David 
desired  to  see  developed  in  the  vouth  of  his  Deople,  and 
hence  the  language  of  our  text. 

"That  our  daughters  may  be  as  corner-stones,  polished 
after  the  similitude  of  a  palace."  '  Dr.  Conant  gives  the 
meaning  of  the  original  thus :  "  Our  daughters  as  corner 
pillars,  sculptured  after  the  structure  of  a  palace."  And 
Perowne,  another  Hebrew  scholar,  translates  the  original 
thus:  "  Our  daughters  as  corner  pillars,  sculptured  to  grace 
a  palace."  Here  we  have  in  figurative  and  poetical  language 
"  our  daughters "  compared  to  corner-stones  and  beautiful 
pillars ;  and  the  two  leading  ideas  are  strength  and  beauty, 
and  we  wonder  why  "  our  sons  "  are  compared  to  plants  that 
are  young  and  tender,  while  "our  daughters"  are  compared 
to  corner-stones  and  pillars.  "We  might  think  that  the  figures 
should  be  reversed,  and  "our  sons"  be  compared  to  the 
corner-stones  and  pillars  and  "  our  daughters  "  to  plants.  But 
we  presume  the  spirit  of  God  knew  what  it  was  doing  when 
it  dictated  the  figures  and  applied  them  as  it  did.  There  is 
great  strength  in  female  character.  Oh,  how  much  power 
is  there  in  the  gentleness  and  affection  of  a  woman's  pure 
heart !  The  strength  of  their  affection  has  often  been  severely 
tried,  and  in  the  trial  manifested  great  endurance  and  power. 
While  a  father's  stern  command,  and  mother's  er^^reaty  has 
failed  to  keep  the  young  man  from  some  haunt  of  vice,  a 
sister's  arms  in  warm  affection  thrown  around  his  neck,  with 
her  tender  appeals  has  accomplished  it.  Oh  if  the  powerful 
influence  of  our  young  women  was  sanctified  by  the  grace 
of  God,  and  consecrated  to  his  noble  cause,  what  wonders 


ELDER   JAMES   QUINTER.  183 

■would  it  accomplish,  and  what  a  powerful  factor  for  doing 
good  it  would  become !  In  the  martyrology  of  the  early 
church  we  have  noble  cases  of  female  endurance  in  suffering 
for  Christ's  sake.  Tender  girls  when  brought  to  the  severe 
trial  of  either  renouncing  their  Christian  principles  or  of 
meeting  death  in  its  most  terrible  form,  chose  the  latter. 

And  then  the  idea  of  beauty  is  associated  with  our 
daughters  as  we  have  them  presented  in  our  text.  Perowne's 
reading  is,  "  Our  daughters  as  corner  pillars,  sculptured  to 
grace  a  palace."  But  it  is  not  the  beauty  that  so  many  of 
"our  daughters''  cultivate,  and  which  is  admired  by  the 
carnally-minded— a  beauty  which  consists  in  a  beautiful 
form  of  the  body,  or  in  the  adornments  of  jewelry,  silk  and 
velvet  that  is  here  desired  and  prayed  for  "  our  daughters." 
Grace  and  modesty  beautify  female  character.  .  Gentleness 
of  disposition,  tenderness  of  feelings,  purity  of  mind,  sym- 
pathy with  the  suffering,  and  a  desire  to  be  useful  in  pro- 
moting the  happiness  of  all  classes,  are  adornments  more  to 
be  admired,  and  highly  valued,  and  sought  after,  than  the 
richest  attire  and  the  most  valuable  pearls  and  costly  jewels, 
that  the  fashionable  ladies  of  the  world  wear.  The  polish 
and  adornment  that  should  beautify  "our  daughters,"  and 
our  mothers  too,  is  that  referred  to  by  the  apostle,  when  he 
says  in  speaking  to  Christian  females,  "  whose  adorning,  let 
it  not  be  that  outward  adorning  of  plaiting  the  hair,  and  of 
wearing  of  gold,  or  of  putting  on  of  apparel,  but  let  it  be 
the  hidden  man  of  the  heart,  in  that  which  is  not  corruptible, 
even  the  ornament  of  a  meek  and  quiet  spirit,  which  is  in 
the  sight  of  God  of  great  price." — I.  Peter  3 :  3,  4.  There  is 
a  sad  mistake  committed  by  young  women  when  they  seek 
the  admiration  of  the  other  sex  by  attractions  which  appeal 
to  their  carnal  feelings.  The  sensuous  may  be  attracted  by 
such  attractions.  But  when  the  hand  of  a  young  woman  is 
sought   by  a  young  man,  because  of   her  wealth  or  her 


184  SEEMONS    OF 

exterior  attractions,  if  the  wealth  is  not  what  it  was 
expected  to  be,  or  the  attractions  do  not  last,  his  attention, 
for  love  he  had  not,  becomes  cold,  and  she  is  neglected  and 
perhaps  dies  broken-hearted. 

We  Avere  present  not  long  since  when  a  conversation 
took  place  about  a  young  lady  of  whom  we  had  some  knowl- 
edge. She  had  some  wealth,  and  some  personal  attractions. 
The  question  was  asked  why  she  never  married.  The  reply 
was,  "  She  was  not  agreeable  in  her  manners  and  disposi- 
tion." It  is  true,  these  are  not  always  a  barrier  to  marriage. 
But  they  are  to  the  discreet  and  observing.  Prof.  Upham, 
an  author  well  known,  says,  "  I  have  come  to  the  conclusion, 
if  man,  or  woman  either,  wishes  to  realize  the  full  power  of 
personal  beauty,  it  must  be  by  cherishing  noble  hopes  and 
purposes ;  by  having  something  to  do,  and  something  to  live 
for,  which  is  worthy  of  humanity,  and  which,  by  expanding 
the  capacities  of  the  soul,  gives  expansion  and  symmetry  to 
the  body  which  contains  it." 

We  pass  from  the  young  to  the  old  in  our  picture  qf  the 
happy  people.  While  the  young,  trained  to  holiness  and 
usefulness,  form  an  important  element  in  the  picture  of  the 
happy  people  before  us,  given  us  by  the  psalmist,  the  old 
are  not  left  out.  Their  presence  is  plainly  discovered.  The 
old  are  characterized  by  a  very  strong  solicitude  for  the 
young.  Who  was  it  that  desired  and  prayed  that  our  sons 
and  daughters  might  be  all  that  is  implied  in  the  high 
attainment  that  is  desired  for  them  ?  It  was  one  of  the 
parents  in  the  body  of  happy  people.  And  this  is  the  char- 
acteristic of  the  aged  saint.  "  Fathers,  provoke  not  your 
children  to  wrath  :  but  bring  them  up  in  the  nurture  and 
admonition  of  the  Lord." — Eph.  6 :  4.  Such  is  the  duty 
enjoined  upon  parents.  The  duty  enjoined,  they  labor,  to 
perform.  And  it  is  very  natural  to  suppose  that  while  the 
parents  and  the  aged  labor  to  promote  the   Diety  of    the 


ELDER  JAMES  QUINTER.  185 

young,  that  they  will  not  neglect  to  cultivate  holiness  in 
themselves.  And  so  it  is  a  characteristic  of  all  in  a  truly 
happy  people,  to  labor  to  do  right  and  to  be  holy.  And  it 
is  their  success  in  such  labors  that  makes  them  the  happy 
people  they  are. 

The  next  thing  we  notice  in  the  picture  of  the  happy 
people  is  their  secular  prosperity.  "  That  our  garners  may 
be  full,  affording  all  manner  of  store;  that  our  sheep  may 
bring  forth  thousands  and  ten  thousands  in  our  streets;  that 
our  oxen  may  be  strong  to  labor  ;  that  there  be  no  breaking  in, 
nor  going  out ;  that  there  be  no  complaining  in  our  streets." 
Secular  prosperity  has  considerable  to  do  with  our  happmess. 
We  have  bodies  to  provide  for  and  our  bodies  are  earthy, 
and  through  them  we  are  related  to  the  earth,  and  in  a 
measure  dependent  on  it.  And  our  higher  natures  of  intel- 
lect and  spirit  are  closely  connected  with  our  physical 
nature,  and  more  or  less  influenced  by  it.  Hence  a  healthy 
state  of  the  body  is  very  desirable  and  important.  And 
while  it  is  true  that  a  Christian  may  be  happy  in  poverty 
and  want,  it  is  happiness  enjoyed  under  disadvantages  and 
amid  temptation.  Poverty  and  want  are  not  crimes  when 
they  do  not  result  from  our  improvidence  or  neglect.  But 
they  are  very  inconvenient,  and  often  a  great  barrier  to  our 
usefulness  and  charity.  The  inconvenience  of  want,  and  its 
interference  with  happiness,  are  known  at  this  time  by  our 
brethren  and  others  in  Kansas.  If  they  could  at  this  time 
exj)erience  the  secular  prosperity  contained  in  the  picture  of 
the  happy  people  of  our  text,  it,  no  doubt,  would  add  greatly 
to  their  enjoyment.  To  secular  things  too  much  attention 
and  labor  are  given  by  some.  While  others  are  too  dilatory 
and  neglectful  in  their  secular  business.  It  is  desirable  that 
we  have  a  pleasant  home  and  enough  of  this  world's  goods 
to  keep  us  from  want  and  to  enable  us  to  give  something  to 
such  as  may  be  in  want.      And  if  we   do  our  duty  in   all 


186  SERMONS   OF       ' 

things,  we  may  hope  for  a  sufficiency  if  not  abundance. 
"  Seek  ye  first  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  his  righteousness  ; 
and  all  these  things  shall  be  added  unto  you." — ^Matt.  6 :  33. 
The  things  referred  to  here  are  secular  things  which  are 
necessary  for  our  comfort. 

Another  idea  in  connection  with  our  secular  prosperity 
is  peace,  or  freedom  from  war.  "  That  there  be  no  breaking 
in,  nor  going  out ;  that  there  be  no  complaining  in  our 
streets."  Home  paraphrases  these  words,  thus  :  "  No  irrup- 
tion of  aliens  into  the  commonwealth,  nor  emigration  of 
inhabitants  to  foreign  countries,  by  captivity,  or  otherwise." 
Such  blessings  and  such  prosperity  God  promised  to  his 
people  Israel  upon  condition  that  they  kept  his  laws. 
"  Wherefore  it  shall  come  to  pass,  if  ye  hearken  to  these 
judgments,  and  keep  and  do  them,  that  the  Lord  thy  God 
shall  keep  unto  thee  the  covenant  and  the  mercy  which  he 
sware  unto  thy  fathers  :  and  he  will  love  thee,  and  bless 
thee,  and  multiply  thee  :  he  will  also  bless  the  fruit  of  thy 
womb,  and  the  fruit  of  thy  land,  thy  corn,  and  thy  vine,  and 
thine  oil,  the  increase  of  thy  kin  and  the  flocks  of  thy  sheep, 
in  the  land  which  he  sware  unto  thy  fathers  to  give  thee." 
Deut.  Y:  12,  13. 

Tlie  last  particular  in  the  picture  of  the  hapj^y  people  con- 
tained in  our  text,  is  their  religious  character.  "  Happy  is 
that  people  that  is  in  such  a  case ;  yea,  happy  is  that  people 
whose  God  is  the  Lord."  "  Happy  is  that  people  that  is  in 
such  a  case."  "What  case  ?  The  case  of  a  people  among 
Avhom  the  parents  feel  a  proper  solicitude  for  their  sons  and 
daughters  growing  up  in  holiness  and  usefulness ;  the  case  of  a 
people  enjoying  in  a  high  degree  secular  prosperity,  the  case 
of  a  people  having  the  Lord  Jehovah  for  their  God.  A  people 
in  such  a  case  or  condition  is  a  happy  people.  Their  relig- 
ious character  is  plainly  seen  in  the  fact  that  they  had  a 
God.     And  the  sufficiency  and  correctness  of  that  religious 


ELDER   JAMES   QUINTER.  187 

character  are  assured  from  the  fact  that  Jehovah  was  their 
God.  No  people  can  be  a  happy  people  without  a  God. 
The  apostle  in  referring  to  the  state  of  the  Ephesian  breth- 
ren, says,  "at  that  time  ye  were  without  Christ,  being  aliens 
from  the  commonwealth  of  Israel,  and  strangers  from  the 
covenant  of  promise,  having  no  hope,  and  without  God  in  the 
world." — Eph.  2  :  12.  According  to  this  language,  to  be 
witliout  God  is  to  be  without  hope.  But  if  we  have  God 
and  Christ,  we  have  a  hope,  and  we  are  safe  and  happy. 
"  Happy  is  that  people,  whose  God  is  the  Lord."  There  are 
"  Gods  many,  and  Lords  many."— I.  Cor.  8:5.  "  But  to  us," 
says  Paul,  continuing  after  the  language  we  have  last 
quoted,  "  There  is  but  one  God." — And  this  God  is  Jehovah, 
the  true  God,  and  the  God  that  manifests  himself  in  the 
three  characters  or  persons.  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Spirit, 
into  all  of  whom  believers  are  baptized.  And  being  baptized 
into  all,  they  enjoy  the  power  and  offices  of  all,  and  conse- 
quently are  a  happy  people. 

The  last  truth  we  present  from  our  text  is  this :  The 
people  who  have  the  Lord  for  their  God,  and  who  serve 
him,  and  w4)o  are  happy  in  his  service,  are  in  danger  of 
being  injured  in  their  character  and  principles  from  the 
ungodly  in  the  world  to  whose  influence  they  are  exposed. 
Therefore  David  prays,  "  Rid  me,  and  deliver  me  from  the 
hand  of  strange  children,  whose  mouth  speaketh  vanity,  and 
their  right  hand  is  a  right  hand  of  falsehood."  These 
"  strange  children  "  are  the  children  of  the  world  as  distin- 
guished from  the  children  of  God.  It  is  not  to  be  confined 
to  the  3^oung,  but  it  refers  to  adults  as  well.  Perowne  trans- 
lates it  "sons of  the  alien."  Their  conversation  was  vain, 
and  they  were  untruthful.  Their  promises  were  not  reliable. 
The  apostle  Peter  refers  to  the  same  persons  and  to  their 
influence  upon  the  good  in  the  following  language  :  "  When 
they  speak    great  swelling    words  of  vanity,  they  allure 


188  SERMONS   OF 

through  the  lusts  ®f  the  flesh,  through  much  wantonness, 
those  that  were  dean  escaped  from  them  who  live  in  error. 
"While  they  promise  them  liberty,  they  themselves  are  the 
servants  of  corruption." — 2  Peter,  2 :  18, 19.  Christians,  and 
especially  young  Christians,  should  be  very  careful  what 
kind  of  companions  they  associate  with.  We  are  to  "  honor 
all  men,"  and  show  Kindness  to  the  ungodly,  and  when- 
ever we  can  do  them  a  favor  we  should  do  it.  We  do  not 
think  that  duty  requires  us  to  withdraw  altogether  from  the 
society  of  the  ungodly,  but  we  should  be  very  careful  that 
we  do  not  in  our  intercourse  with  them  compromise  our 
Christian  principles,  or  permit  our  Christian  character  to 
become  contaminated  by  theirs,  since  "  evil  communications 
corrupt  good  manners." 

In  conclusion  we  exhort  you  all  to  become  like  the  happy 
people,  whose  pictures  we  have  had  before  us,  for  "  Happy 
is  that  people  that  is  in  such  a  case,  yea,  happy  is  that  people 
whose  God  is  the  Lord." 


XIII. 

THE    DANGER    OF     LOSING    WHAT     HAS   BEEN 
DONE  FOR  OUE  SALVATION. 

"  Look  to  yourselves,  that  we  lose  not  the  things  which 
we  have  wrought,  but  that  we  receive  a  full  reward." — 2 
John,  8th  verse. 

As  the  text  reads,  it  conveys  the  idea  that  the  apostle 
was  anxious  that  the  brethren  might  look  to  themselves 
and  thereby  continue  faithful,  that  he  and  his  fellow-labor- 
ers who  had  been  the  means  of  their  conversion,  might 
receive  a  full  reward.  Though  the  minister  will  not  lose 
his  reward,  if  he  faithfully  discharges  his  duty,  even  if  those 


ELDER  JAMES  QUINTER.  189 

he  has  gathered  into  the  church  should  not  be  faithful,  and 
should  be  found  wanting  in  the  day  of  judgment.  But  his 
reward  will  be  much  greater,  as  bis  joy  will  bemucli  greater, 
if  those  he  has  ministered  for  are  accepted  by  the  Lord.  It 
appears  from  Paul's  language,  2  Cor.  11:  2,  "For  I  am 
jealous  over  you  with  Godly  jealousy  :  for  1  have  espoused 
you  to  one  husband,  that  I  may  present  you  as  a  chaste 
virgin  to  Christ,"  that  the  minister  at  the  proper  time,  will 
present  his  people  to  the  Lord.  Then  according  to  the  text, 
if  we  who  minister  to  you  here,  would  have  our  reward  full, 
you,  to  whom  we  minister,  must  be  faithful.  And  if  you 
are  not,  our  reward  or  joy  will  be  diminished.  This  idea 
seems  confirmed  by  1  Thess.  2 :  19,  "  For  what  is  our  hope, 
or  joy,  or  crown  of  rejoicing?  Are  not  even  ye  in 
the  presence  of  Christ  at  his  coming?  For  ye  are 
our  glory  and  joy."  According  to  this  language,  the 
more  the  minister  is  the  means  of  training  for  heaven, 
the  brighter  will  be  his  crown.  Hence  the  apostle's 
concern  as  expressed  in  the  text,  "  that  we  receive  a  full 
reward."  But  there  is  another  reading  which  we  perfer, 
which  seems  to  be  more  correct,  and  which  makes  the  "  full 
reward,"  refer  not  only  to  the  ministers,  but  to  all  the  mem- 
bers of  the  church  as  well.  The  Vulgate,  a  very  ancient 
Latin  version  of  the  Scriptures,  and  the  one  which  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  uses,  reads  our  text  thus :  "  Look  to 
yourselves,  that  ye  lose  not  the  things  which  you  have 
wrought;  but  that  you  may  receive  a  full  reward."  Mac- 
night  says,  five  of  Steven's  manuscripts,  the  Alexandrian 
and  other  manuscripts,  the  second  Syriac,  and  the  Ethiopic 
read  it  as  does  the  Vulgate.  According  to  this  reading  then, 
a  full  reward  is  held  out  to  all  Christians  to  induce  them  to 
persevere  in  well  doing.  "Look  to  yourselves,  that  you 
lose  not  the  things  which  you  have  wrought :  but  that  you 
may   receive  a  full   reward,"     It   is  a   suggestive,  and   it 


190  SERMONS   OF 

should  be  an  awakening,  andan  alarming  thought,  that  all 
that  has  been  done  may,  through  our  indifference  and  neg- 
lect, be  lost,  and  profit  us  nothing.  "We  then,"  says  Paul, 
"as  workers  together  with  him,  beseech  you  also  that  ye 
receive  not  the  grace  of  God  in  vain."  2  Cor.  6 :  1.  Paul 
saw  the  same  danger  that  John  saw,  namely,  that  of  losing 
the  personal  and  saving  benefits  of  all  that  has  been  done  to 
save  us. 

While  the  text,  as  we  perfer  to  read  it,  has  special  refer- 
ence to  the  loss  of  the  labors  that  the  Christian  believers 
themselves  had  already  done  in  the  work  of  salvation,  we 
will  expand  or  enlarge  the  thought,  and  embrace  within  the 
scope  of  its  application,  all  that  has  been  done  by  all  the 
accents  concerned  in  the  work  of  our  salvation.  These  ao'ents 
are  three;  1,  the  divine;  2,  the  ministerial;  3,  the  indi- 
vidual. 

1,  By  the  divine,  we  mean  tde  work  of  salvation  in  its 
objective  character,  that  is  the  work  of  salvation  in  itself, 
independent  altogether  of  man,  and  external  to  the  mind  of 
man.  Salvation  in  its  subjective  character,  is  salvation  in  us, 
and  thus  realized  and  verified  by  our  consciousness.  This 
distinction  is  frequetly  met  with  in  theological  writings,  and 
is  useful  in  expressing  the  different  relations  in  which  salva- 
tion stands  to  us.  Salvation,  then,  in  its  objective  or  general 
relation,  was  wrought  for  us  before  we  had  a  being  and 
independent  of  anything  that  we  did.  Our  heavenly  Father, 
foreseeing  the  wants  of  our  ruined  race,  before  our  race  had 
a  beginning,  in  the  exercise  of  his  love,  mercy,  and  wisdom, 
devised  a  means  by  which  he  could  pardon  the  guilty  with- 
out in  anywise  sanctioning  or  encouraging  sin.  And  what 
the  Father  devised  or  originated,  in  the  fullness  of  time,  the 
Son  executed,  and  tlius  became  "  the  author  and  finisher  of 
our  faith."  Heb.  12:  2.  The  Holy  Spirit  also  fills  his 
office    in    the  great  work    of  human    redemption.    Now, 


KLDKR   JAMES    QUINTER.  191 

notwithstanding  salvation  is  provided  for  all  men,  it 
will  be  lost  to  all  that  do  not  believe.  And,  further, 
men  may  believe  and  do  works  meet  for  repentance 
(Matt.  3  :  8)  and  realize  some  of  the  advantages  of  this 
great  salvation,  but  if  they  do  not  then  look  to 
themselves,  and  hold  out  faithful  to  the  end,  they  will  lose 
all  that  has  been  done  for  them  by  what  we  have  called  the 
divine  agents,  and  also  all  that  thev  will  have  done  for  them- 
selves.  It  is  true,  God  has  said  in  regard  to  his  word,  "  It 
shall  not  return  unto  me  void,  but  shall  accomplish  that 
which  I  please,  and  it  shall  prosper  in  the  thing  whereto  I 
sent  it."  Isa.  55 :  11.  Surely  what  God  has  done  will  not 
be  without  important  results  in  the  purposes  of  his  govern- 
ment in  vindicating  the  righteousness  and  justice  of  all  his 
proceedings  with  men;  but  while  the  Christian  redemption 
will  vindicate  God,  and  be  a  witness  for  him,  it  will  profit 
such  only  among  men  that  believe,  and  hold  fast  their  faith. 
2.  By  the  ministerial  agents,  wo  mean  the  ministers  of 
the  divine  word.  In  the  conversion  of  the  most  of  people, 
the  work  of  the  minister  is  an  important  agent.  "Faith 
Cometh  by  hearing,  and  hearing  by  the  word  of  God." 
Rom.  10 :  17.  "And  how  shall  they  hear  without  a  preacher  ? " 
The  agency  of  the  ministry,  both  in  the  conversion  of 
sinners,  and  in  the  culture  and  growth  of  Christian  char- 
acter, has  much  to  do.  And  the  faithful  minister  appre- 
ciating this  will  feel  that  a  great  responsibility  rests  upon 
him.  It  is  his  duty  to  feed  the  flock  of  God,  the  lambs 
with  the  sincere  milk  of  the  word,  and  the  sheep  with 
stronger  meat  as  they  are  able  to  bear  it,  and  as  their 
wants  require.  John,  the  aged  apostle,  and  servant  of  God, 
in  the  deep  yearnings  of  his  affectionate  heart,  for  the  pros- 
perity and  salvation  of  his  brethren  and  spiritual  children, 
says  in  his  short  epistle  to  "  the  well  beloved  Gaius," 
"Beloved,  I  wish  above  ail  things  that  thou  mayst  prosper 


192  SERMONS    OF 

and  be  in  health,  even  as  thy  soul  prospereth.  For  I  rejoice 
greatly,  when  the  brethren  carae  and  testified  of  the  truth 
that  is  in  thee,  even  as  thou  walkest  in  the  truth.  I  have  no 
greater  joy  than  to  hear  that  my  children  walk  in  truth." 
3  John,  verses  2-4.  Paul  said  to  his  Galatian  brethren,  '•'  My 
little  children,  of  whom  I  travail  in  birth  again  until  Christ 
be  formed  in  you."  Gal.  4:  19.  Such  is  the  concern  that 
faithful  ministers  feel  for  the  salvation  of  the  people  to  whom 
they  minister,  and  with  such  a  concern  they  spare  no  pains 
or  labor  in  their  endeavors  to  bring  sinners  to  Christ,  and  to 
keep  them  faithful,  after  their  conversion  to  the  truth,  and 
their  consecration  to  God.  And  entertaining  such  feelings, 
it  is  not  surprising  that  the  apostle  John  expressed  himself 
as  he  did  in  our  text,  showing  that  he  •'  desired  above  all 
things,"  that  his  brethren  for  whom  he  labored,  and  he  and 
his  fellow  laborers  also,  "  might  receive  a  full  reward." 

3.  Then  a  part  of  the  work  of  salvation  is  done  by 
the  persons  themselves  in  whom  and  for  whom  the  work  is 
done.  "Work  out  your  own  salvation  with  fear  and 
trembling."  Phil.  2:  12.  This  plainly  implies  the  neces- 
sity of  our  own  agenc}^  in  the  work  of  our  salvation. 
"Look  to  yourselves  that  you  lose  not  the  things  which 
you  have  wrought."  All  who  have  come  to  Christ  and 
obtained  pardon  for  their  sins,  and  the  gift  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  have  experienced  a  great  work.  They  "have  passed 
from  death  unto  life."  1  John  3 :  14,  and  have  been  delivered 
from  the  power  of  darkness,  and  translated  into  tiie  king- 
dom of  Christ.  Col.  1 :  13.  And  all  those  who  have  experi- 
enced this  great  work,  have  co-operated  with  all  the  Divine 
persons,  and  with  the  ministerial  agents,  in  accomplishing 
the  work. 

And  when  a  soul  leaves  the  world,  and  forsakes  its  sins, 
and  takes  a  decided  stand  on  the  side  of  the  Lord,  an  impor- 
tant step  is  taken,  and  in  a  certain  sense,  a  considerable  part 


ELDER  JAMES  QUINTER.  193 

of  the  work  that  it  has  to  do  in  worlcing  out  its  salvation  is 
done.  We  say  in  a  certain  sense  much  is  then  done.  We 
Baptists,  who  believe  that  baptism  has  something  to  do  with 
our  salvation,  and  preach  that  people  should  be  baptized  as 
well  as  believe  and  repent,  and  also  preach  that  immersion 
alone  is  baptism,  are  sometimes  charged  with  putting  all  our 
trust  in  baptism,  and  with  holding  the  idea  that  when  a  per- 
son is  baptized  the  work  is  done.  We  disclaim  holding  any 
such  sentiments,  and  in  reply  to  such  charges,  say  that  we 
believe  the  work  of  salvation  is  just  properly  begun  in  a  [)er- 
son  when  he  is  baptized.  For  wlien  he  is  born  into  the 
kingdom  of  God  by  being  born  of  the  water  and  of  the 
Spirit,  John  3  :  5,  he  is  then  only  a  babe,  and  then  must  be 
nursed  and  fed,  and  laken  care  of,  that  he  may  grow  "  unto 
a  perfect  man,  unto  the  measure  of  the  stature  of  the  full- 
ness of  Christ." — Eph.  4  :  13  But,  though  the  work  is  just 
begun  when  a  soul  is  converted  to  God,  nevertheless,  a  good 
deal  is  done.  For  when  a  person  has  overcome  his  own 
indifference,  the  pride  of  his  heart,  and  his  carnal  mind 
which  is  "enmity  against  God,"  and  sundered  the  chords 
that  bind  him  to  the  world,  and  to  the  followers  of  worldly 
pleasure  and  fashion,  and  freed  himself  from  the  grasp  of 
Satan,  and  has  passed  through  the  sorrows  and  agony  of  the 
state  of  true  penitency,  such  a  person  has  done  a  good  deal 
in  the  work  of  his  salvation.  It  is  true,  it  is  but  little  of 
what  he  may  have  to  do  if  he  continues  in  the  world  a 
considerable  time,  and  shall  have  to  fig'ht  the  g^ood  fight  of 
faith  with  all  the  foes  with  which  he  shall  have  to  contend. 
Still,  when  the  "  first  works  "  of  a  religious  life  are  looked 
at  in  themselves,  they  are  not  small  nor  unimportant. 

Now,  according  to  the  doctrine  of  our  text,  all  this  work 
may  be  lost.  "  That  we  lose  not  those  things  which  we 
have  wrought."  And  because  we  are  in  danger  of  losing 
all  that  we  have  gained,  we  are  admonished  to  look  to  our- 


194  SEKMONS  OF 

selves.  For  surely  it  would  be  a  terrible  loss  to  lose  all  that 
we  have  gained  in  our  struggle  and  labor  to  get  into  Christ. 
We  therefore  should  look  to  ourselves,  and  hold  fast  what  we 
have.  For  should  we  ever  lose  what  we  have  "  wrought  " 
or  gained,  its  recovery,  if  recovered,  would  require  more 
labor,  more  suffering,  a  more  terrible  conflict  with  the 
opposing  powers  of  darkness,  than  was  required  to  accom- 
plish our  "  first  works"  that  brought  us  into  Christ. 

But  Christians  are  not  only  in  danger  of  losing  what  they 
have  wrought,  but  if  they  lose  what  they  themselves  have 
wrought,  and  should  they  never  recover  it,  but  be  "  cast 
away,"  they  will  also  lose  all  that  has  been  done  for  them 
by  all  others  who  have  taken  an  interest  in  their  salvation, 
and  worked  to  secure  it.  They  will  lose  all  that  heaven  has 
done,  and  all  that  faithful  ministers  and  Christian  parents 
have  done  for  them.  And  what  a  pity  it  would  be,  what  a 
misfortune,  and  what  a  criminal  neglect  will  it  be  on  the 
part  of  all  whether  saints  or  sinners  to  lose  all  that  has  been 
done  to  save  them. 

We  urge  the  thought  upon  the  consideration  of  sinners 
as  well  as  upon  the  consideration  of  saints.  A  great  dea 
has  been  done  for  yon.  There  is  a  sense  in  which  Christ 
has  died  for  you,  for  he  "  tasted  death  for  every  man." 
Hob.  2:  9.  You  have  also  made  some  proficiency  in  acquir- 
ing a  knowledge  of  the  scriptures.  You  have  enjoyed  the 
]irivilege  of  attending  Sabbath  school  and  the  Bible  class. 
And  many  of  you  have  had  the  advantages  of  a  Christian 
liome  and  of  Christian  parents.  And  you  have  enjoj^ed  the 
advantages  of  the  Christian  ministry.  You  have  heard 
many  sermons  and  many  exhortations.  Much  has  been 
done  for  you,  and  much  has  been  given  to  you.  ISTow  the 
thought  that  all  this  should  be  lost  is  a  painful  thought,  and 
it  should  startle  you  to  think,  and  to  feel,  and  to  act,  lest 
you  lose  all  that  has  been  done  for  you.     Should  you  sustain 


ELDER   JA.MES    QUINTER.  195 

this  loss,  you  will  never  cease  to  feel  it  and  to  regret  it. 
Then  we  say  to  you  all,  to  saints  and  sinners,  "  Look  to 
yourselves  that  you  lose  not  the  things  which  you  have 
wrought ;  but  that  you  receive  a  full  reward." 

And  what  is  implied  in  ''  looking  to  yourselves  ?  "  The 
apostle  speaks  about  deceivers  and  antichrist  in  the  context. 
Hence  there  is  implied  a  danger  of  being  deceived.  We 
would  therefore  say,  look  to  your  principles,  and  see  that 
they  are  according  to  the  principles  of  the  Gospel.  Look  to 
your  hearts  and  see  that  your  motives  and  feelings  are  right. 
Look  to  your  actions  and  see  that  they  are  right.  Look  to 
yourselves — turn  your  thought  upon  yourselves.  There  is 
so  much  in  the  outside  world  to  draw  our  attention,  that  we 
very  much  neglect  to  look  at  the  world  within  us.  Hence 
we  are  too  little  acquainted  with  ourselves.  We  are  there- 
fore admonished  in  our  text  to  look  to  ourselves.  The  idea 
is,  we  are  to  know  ourselves,  and  if  we  are  not  right,  we  are 
to  get  ourselves  right. 

And  if  we  look  to  ourselves  as  Christians,  and  lose  not 
what  we  have  already  wrought  or  gained,  and  persevere  to 
the  end,  we  shall  then  receive  a  "full  reward."  And  if 
those  who  have  not  yet  commenced  to  work  for  themselves, 
now  begin,  and  avail  themselves  of  what  has  already  been 
done  by  others  for  them,  then  they  too,  will  receive  a  full 
reward.  And  what  is  the  "full  reward?"  A  full  reward 
is  all  that  is  promised  in  the  Gospel,  and  that  is  the  "prom- 
ise of  the  life  that  now  is,  and  of  that  which  is  to  come." — 
1  Tim.  4 :  8. 

We  offer  two  thoughts  which  contain  much  of  the  sub- 
stance of  the  text.  The  first  is  the  generosity  of  heaven. 
Heaven  has  offered  us  a  "  full  reward."  With  God  there  is 
no  scarcity.  And  as  he  is  able  to  do  so  he  will  abundantly 
reward  all  who  serve  him.  Secondly,  God  wishes  us  to  have 
all  that  he  has  provided  for  us.     He  desires  that  we  should 


196  SERMONS    OF 

attain  unto  the  highest  state  of  holiness,  that  we  may  thereby 
secure  to  ourselves  the  highest  state  of  enjoyment.  Then 
let  us  all  "Look  to  ourselves,  that  we  lose  not  those  things 
which  we  have  Avrought ;  but  that  we  receive  a  full  reward." 


XIY. 
OUR  CHRISTIAN  DUTIES. 

"Finally  be  ye  all  of  one  mind,  having  compassion  one  of 
another,  love  as' brethren,  be  pitiful,  be  courteous,  not  rend- 
ering evil  for  evil,  or  railing  for  railing ;  but  contrariwise 
blessing;  knowing  that  ye  are  thereunto  called,  that  ye 
should  inherit  a  blessing." — I.  Peter  3:  8-9. 

The  apostle  commences  the  chapter  by  admonishing  his 
brethren  and  sisters  to  an  observance  of  duties  of  a  very 
personal  and  rather  of  a  domestic  character.  He  continued 
in  this  strain  of  admonition  of  practical  Christian  duties, 
and  as  the  word  "  finally  "  implies,  closes  his  train  of  tliought 
with  the  words  of  our  text. 

I  present  ray  subject  under  three  heads.  The  duties  of 
Christians  to  one  another ;  their  duties  to  men  in  general ; 
and  their  duties  to  their  enemies ;  with  the  reason  following 
why  we  should  perform  these  duties:  First,  the  duties  to 
one  another.  "  Finally,  be  ye  all  of  one  mind.  Having 
compassion  one  with  another;  love  as  brethren."  Thus  far 
we  conceive  that  the  apostle  addressed  more  particularly  the 
brethren  in  regard  to  duties  with  one  another.  They  are 
admonished  to  be  of  one  mind.  You,  that  are  to  any  con- 
siderable extent  acquainted  with  Christianity  as  we  have  it 
in  the  Gospel,  are  aware  that  we  as  Christians  are  com- 
manded to  be  united.  It  is  not  only  commanded  by  Peter, 
but  we  find  it  in  the  writings  of  the  apostle  Paul,  and  we 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTER.  197 

find  it  taught  by  the  Saviour,  and  it  constituted  one  of  the 
prominent  petitions  in  that  prayer  of  his  that  he  offered  up 
just  before  he  Avas  betrayed  and  crucified — the  prayer  is 
found  in  the  ITth  chapter  of  John.  In  that  prayer,  one 
petition  was  especially  for  the  union  of  his  people,  the  union 
of  his  church:  "That  they  may  be  one;  as  thou,  Father, 
art  in  me,  and  I  in  thee,  that  they  may  also  be  one  in  us," 
That  was  the  prayer  of  Christ,  and  as  a  model  and  pattern 
of  that  oneness,  he  gives  as  an  example  the  union  between 
himself  and  his  Father.  The  union  that  exists  between  the 
Father  and  Son  is  the  model  or  pattern  that  we  should  seek 
after  as  members  of  his  church.  "  That  we  may  be  one." 
Now  in  what  does  this  union  consist?  How  far  is  it  obliga- 
tory upon  us  to  endeavor  to  attain  to  the  union  mentioned 
in  our  text,  and  to  the  union  for  which  Christ  prayed  when 
he  prayed  that  his  disciples  might  be  one!  That  union  con- 
sists in  an  observance  of  the  doctrine  taught  us  in  the  New 
Testament  Scripture.  Such  as  there  is  but  one  God  ;  that 
there  is  but  one  Mediator  between  God  and  man ;  but  one 
Saviour, 

"  There  is  one  body,  and  one  Spirit,  even  as  ye  are  called 
in  one  hope  of  your  calling  ;  one  Lord,  one  faith,  one  baptism, 
one  God  and  Father  of  all,  who  is  above  all,  and  through 
all,  and  in  you  all." — Eph.  4  :  4-6.  And  when  Christ  sent 
out  his  disciples  after  his  resurrection,  he  said,  "Go  ye  there- 
fore, and  teach  all  nations,  baptizing  them  in  the  name  of  the 
Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost :  Teaching 
them  to  observe  all  things  whatsoever  I  have  commanded 
you  :  and,  lo,  I  am  with  you  alway,  even  unto  the  end  of  the 
world."— Matt,  28 :  19-20.  Now  as  all  who  were  converted 
to  Christianity,  were  to  have  all  the  commandments  of 
Christ  preached  to  them,  it  was  evidently  their  duty  to 
receive  and  practice  those  commandments.  Hence  they 
were  to  be  of  one  mind  in  practicing  all  the  commandments 


198  SEKMONS    OF 

of  Christ.  And  this  refers  to  all  believers  in  all  ages  of  the 
Christian  Church.  The  same  doctrine  was  to  be  preached  at 
Rome  that  was  to  be  preached  at  Corinth  and  Ephesus. 
Hence  Paul  writing  to  the  Ephesian  brethren  declares  as 
we  have  seen,  "  There  is  one  Lord,  one  faith  and  one  bap- 
tism," etc.  This  church  was  probably  made  up  of  Jews 
and  Gentiles.  And  some  were  not  to  believe  one  thing  and 
some  another,  but  they  were  to  be  of  the  same  mind,  and 
have  the  same  faith,  the  same  baptism,  and  be  united  to  the 
same  body,  which  was  Christ  or  his  church.  And  from  such 
Scriptures  as  I  have  quoted,  we  may  form  a  pretty  correct 
view  of  the  oneness  to  which  Christians  are  to  attain. 

"We  are  to  be  one  in  all  the  doctrines  of  the  gospel,  and 
in  all  the  commandments  of  our  Lord,  and  in  all  that  is 
designed  to  promote  our  Christian  edification.  Why  do  we 
not  say  we  are  to  be  one  in  all  that  is  essential  to  salvation? 
Surely  this  is  to  be  understood.  But  I  say  in  all  that  is 
promotive  of  Christian  edification.  We  have  Christians  in 
the  world  who  are  very  zealous,  very  strong  in  maintaining 
what  they  think  essential  to  salvation.  But'  anything 
beyond  what  is  essential  to  salvation,  they  do  not  think  is 
of  much  importance.  Now  we  look  at  the  matter  in  a 
different  light.  Whatever  our  Lord  has  commanded,  is 
essential  to  something.  He  does  nothing,  nor  requires  us  to 
do  anything  that  is  altogether  useless.  We  will  illustrate  our 
idea  here  by  a  reference  to  feet-washing. 

We  don't  think  that  feetwashing  is  essential  to  salvation, 
some  will  say.  Very  well.  Suppose  we  can  be  saved  with- 
out it,  my  brethren,  bearing  whatever  denominational  name 
you  please.  I  want  to  call  ^^our  attention  to  what  Christ 
said :  "  If  ye  know  these  things,  happy  are  ye  if  ye  do 
them."  What  things?  Feet- washing  was  one  of  them. 
The  performance  of  every  duty  brings  its  accompanying 
pleasure.     "  Happy  are  ye  if  ye  do  them."     Suppose  we  can 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTEK.  199 

be  saved  without  washing  feet,  can  we  enjoy  the  blessing 
that  is  connected  with  it  without  doing  it  ?  Whatever  hap- 
piness I  enjoy  in  the  public  sanctuary,  in  holy  devotion, 
whatever  joy  I  may  have  experienced  in  my  holy  baptism, 
whatever  happiness  I  may  experience  around  the  Lord's 
table,  what  enjoyment  I  may  feel  in  all  these  places,  I 
have  because  I  do  them.  So  I  can  not  enjoy  the  happiness 
consequent  upon  the  observance  of  the  rite  of  feetwashing 
unless  I  do  the  thing.  Therefore,  whatever  happiness  I 
enjoy,  in  anything  else  I  can  not  enjoy  the  happiness  of  feet- 
washing  unless  I  do  the  thing.  Then,  though  you  may  think 
feetwashing  is  not  essential  to  salvation,  it  is  essential  to  our 
enjoyment  of  the  blessing  consequent  upon  it.  That's  the 
point  I  call  your  attention  to.  I  maintain  it  for  the  reason 
that  it  is  a  <hUy,  and  tlie  performance  of  that  duty  will  con- 
tribute to  our  spiritual  edification  and  enjoyment.  Is  it  not 
plain  and  reasonable?  There  ought  to  be  a  union  among 
us.  If  anybody  else  has  something  that  promotes  their  edi- 
fication I  do  not  have,  I  ought  to  have  it.  If  we  have  some- 
thing that  promotes  our  Christian  edification  that  others 
have  not,  they  ought  to  be  with  us.  For  there  should  be  a 
sameness  of  mind  touching  our  edification  and  sanctifioa- 
tion. 

Another  grand  point  is  our  sanctification.  "  Sanctify 
them  through  thy  truth  ;  thy  word  is  truth."  Look  at  that 
connection.  I  want  to  call  your  attention  to  this.  "  Sanc- 
tify them  through  thy  truth."  What  truth?  The  word 
of  God  is  truth.  I  mean  that  word  in  all  its  parts,  and  con- 
nections and  requirements.  By  that  word,  in  all  its  fullness 
and  by  an  impartial  compliance  with  it,  we  are  to  be  sanc- 
tified. There  is  a  good  deal  said  about  Christian  sanctifica- 
tion. And  it  is  an  important  doctrine,  but  sanctification 
without  obedience  is  a  delusion.  We  are  to  obey  the  word 
of  God.     We  are  to  be  sanctified  by  its  truth.      We  are  to 


200  SEKMONS   OF 

be  set  apart  from  the  sinful  world  by  the  truth  of  God.  The 
word  of  God  is  to  separate  us.  It's  to  be  a  partition  wall 
that  is  to  be  built  up  between  the  church  and  the  world  ; 
and  every  Christian  rite  and  practice  is  an  additional  layer 
of  stone,  as  it  were,  that  enlarges  that  partition,  and  this  is 
a  wall  that  divides  the  two.  And  what  is  the  breadth  of 
that  wall  ?  It  is  as  broad  as  the  law  of  God.  It  is  com- 
posed of  duty,  and  it  is  composed  of  holy  principles,  and 
that  man  or  woman  that  is  farthest  from  the  wickedness  of 
the  world,  is  the  one  most  controlled  by  Christian  truth,  the 
most  molded  in  the  mold  of  Christian  truth. 

Everything  that  has  a  tendency  to  take  sin  away,  and 
everything  that  has  a  tendency  to  stamp  upon  us  the  divine 
image  we  should  be  united  in.  There  must  be  a  oneness  in 
that,  and  to  this  end  we  are  to  work. 

In  the  apostolic  church  that  was  comprised  of  Jews  and 
Gentiles,  Paul  said,  "  There  is  one  faith,  one  Lord,  one 
baptism."  When  the  Jews  were  very  tenacious  about  eat- 
ing flesh,  the  Gentiles  could  not  see  the  necessity  in  being 
so,  and  what  did  Paul  teach  them  ?  He  taught  forbearance 
with  one  another.  He  says  :  "  Let  not  him  that  eateth  de- 
spise him  that  eateth  not ;  and  let  not  him  which  eateth  not 
judge  him  that  eateth  ;  for  God  hath  received  him." — Rom. 
14  :  3.  One  sits  down  to  his  table  with  no  meat  on  it  and 
he  thanks  God  for  his  herbs ;  another  sits  down  to  his 
table  with  meat  on  it  and  thanks  God  for  it.  In  regard  to 
this  matter  we  have  nothing  in  the  new  dispensation, 
therefore  things  of  that  kind  are  to  be  left  to  our  discretion 
and  to  our  circumstances.  We  present  this  thought  in  con- 
nection with  that  passage  in  which  Paul  says,  "  Let  every 
.man  be  fully  persuaded  in  his  own  mind."  If  one  wants  to 
eat  meat,  let  him  eat  it.  Let  all  things  be  done  in  modera- 
tion.   If  one  wants  to  observe  the  Jewish  festive  days,  two 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTEK.  201 

or  three  Sabbaths,  let  him  do  it.  If  he  can  afford  to  abstain 
two  or  three  days  from  work,  why  let  him  do  it.  Don't 
condemn  him  for  it. 

These  are  matters,  we  have  said,  that  must  be  left  to 
one's  judgment,  and  discretion.  But  when  you  come  to 
Christian  doctrines  and  the  things  that  God  has  ordained 
in  his  law,  don't  quote  that  passage,  "Let  every  man  be  per- 
suaded in  his  own  mind,"  for  we  should  be  persuaded  in 
our  own  minds  only  to  accept  the  truth  in  its  fullness. 
One  thought  more  and  I  drop  this  one  of  the  objects,  at 
least,  that  this  union  should  be  obtained  for.  "Why  all  of 
the  same  mind?  Paul  don't  give  the  reason  here.  In 
preaching  in  this  way  one  text  presupposes  another  text. 
"Why  should  this  oneness  be  sought  after  ?  Why  should  we 
all  try  to  be  united  ?  "Why  should  all  denominational  divis- 
ions be  put  away?  And  why  should  we  all  come  down  to 
one  order,  one  body  and  one  organization — one  fold  of 
Christ  ?  The  Saviour  answers  it  in  that  prayer  to  which  we 
have  referred.  You  will  find  the  answer  in  the  17th  chap- 
ter of  John.  The  Saviour  says,  "  That  they  all  may  be  one ; 
as  thou.  Father,  art  in  me,  and  I  in  thee,  that  they  also 
may  be  one  in  us;  that  the  world  may  believe  that  thou 
hast  sent  me."  That  oneness  promotes  our  efficiency,  and 
it  promotes  our  power  ;  as  you  have  heard  it  said,  "  in  union 
there  is  strength."  If  all  the  believers  in  Christ  had  this 
oneness  of  mind,  and  then  would  labor  together,  what  good 
could  be  done!  But  you  know,  unfortunately  the  Christian 
world  is  divided.  One  denomination  preaches  one  thing  and 
another  preaches  that  thing  down,  and  in  this  way  our  power 
is  divided,  and  it  is  not  simply  divided  ;  it  is  a  little  like  it 
would  be  in  the  army.  Take  two  armies  meeting:  in  battle 
array,  and  about  to  enter  into  deadly  conflict.  The  guns 
are  all  planted  on  the  ramparts.  They  all  have  their 
direction.     But  suppose  there    are  twenty  or  thirty  guns 


202  SEKMONS   OF 

directed  against  the  party  for  whom  they  were  designed  to 
protect,  then  when  the  match  is  to  be  apphed  and  the  word 
given,  to  enter  the  conflict,  only  one-half  of  the  power  is 
exerted  on  the  enemy.  They  are  turned  right  around 
against  the  army  of  which  they  formed  a  part.  How  then? 
Then  you  see  what  a  condition  of  things  there  would  be. 
That  seems  to  be  a  pretty  hard  illustration,  but  it  is  a 
description  of  the  Christian  world.  Our  guns  are  directed 
against  ourselves.  I  mean  by  that,  that  we  in  the  churches, 
instead  of  meeting  the  common  enemy  are  having  difficul- 
ties between  ourselves.  One  thing  here  and  another  thing 
there.  The  different  churches  are  engaged  in  that.  Now 
that  is  very  unpleasaat.  Take  the  Baptist  Church  and  the 
subject  of  open  communion.  One  class  is  in  favor  of  close 
communion  and  another  in  favor  of  open  communion.  So 
there  is  a  difficulty  here.  I  might  mention  other  churches. 
And  we  come  down  to  our  own  churches  and  we  are  sorry 
there  is  not  the  union  among  us  that  there  should  be.  We 
are  turning  our  artillery  against  ourselves.  We  are  divided 
among  ourselves,  and  we  are  spending  our  strength  in  con- 
tending with  one  another  when  that  strength  should  be 
spent  in  defending  our  principles  and  general  order.  Now 
the  importance  of  this  union.  These  churches  ought  not 
only  to  be  united,  but  they  ought  properly  be  united 
together.  I  believe  we  will  have  to  render  a  terrible  account 
for  the  condition  existing  between  the  different  denomina- 
tions. Christ  prayed  for  the  oneness  of  his  people.  There 
is  a  wrong  somewhere.  We  ought  to  be  united  together, 
instead  of  being  so  estranged  as  we  are,  and  be  an  unbroken 
power  against  the  world.  Oh,  what  good  would  be  done ! 
Go  back  to  the  apostolic  church.  There  was  no  general 
division  in  that  church  then.  There  were  some  few  difficul- 
ties, it  is  true,  but  no  general  rupture,  and  look  at  the 
power  of  that  church.     Look  at  the  churches  springing  up 


ELDER   JAMES    QD INTER.  203 

in  Rome,  the  city  of  idolatiy .  heathenism  and  crimes ;  and 
why  was  that  ?  Because  they  brought  the  united  power  of 
the  church  to  bear  against  the  world.  And  so  it  would  be 
to-day.  But  we  will  give  more  time  to  this  thought  again ; 
for  we  feel  it  is  an  important  one.  "  Be  of  the  same  mind." 
How  far  ?  We  have  alluded  to  that.  We  don't  think  you 
can  object  to  the  position  we  have  taken.  Don't  say  this 
thing  and  that  is  not  essential  to  salvation.  Is  it  essential 
to  anything  else  in  the  Christian  life  ?  Will  it  increase  my 
power  to  honor  God?  Will  it  give  me  increased  help  in 
manifesting  my  devotion  to  the  Lord  ?  Will  it  make  me  a 
better  man  or  woman  ?  And  for  the  oneness  of  all  such 
things  we  should  labor.  The  next  point  is,  "Be  of  one 
mind,  having  compassion  one  with  another."  We  refer  this 
still  to  Christian  duty.  To  dispose  of  this  in  a  few  words 
we  apply  this  to  feeling.  Be  of  the  same  feeling — be  of  the 
same  feeling  one  toward  another;  a  feeJing  of  anxiety  for 
one  another's  welfare.  "Have  compassion  one  toward 
another."  We  are  all  likely  to  get  into  trouble.  We  all 
have  our  troubles.  You  have  your  troubles  and  difficulties, 
all  of  you.  Then  we  all  should  feel  for  one  another.  There 
should  be  a  sameness  of  feeling  in  this  respect.  We  quote 
the  marginal  reading  which  is  also  a  translation  of  the 
original,  "  Have  sameness  of  feeling."  Try  to  be  the 
same  in  feeling  as  well  as  in  mind.  It  is  the  same  doctrine 
that  Paul  preached,  when  he  admonished  his  brethren  to 
"  weep  with  them  that  weep,  and  rejoice  with  them  that 
rejoice."  That's  the  idea.  Same  feeling.  Suppose  I  am 
in  trouble.  You  sit  down  by  my  side  and  you  are  in  trouble 
with  me.  That's  compassion.  You  show  by  the  look  of 
your  countenance  and  of  your  eye  that  you  are  in  deep 
sympathy  with  me.  That's  the  kind  of  feeling  we  should 
cultivate.  Some  it  seems  can  not  do  it.  There  are  some 
people  that  are  calculated  to  make  all  around  them  unhappy. 


204  SERMONS    OF 

They  have  such  language  and  complaining  tone  of  voice, 
that  if  you  are  not  careful  you  will  get  into  the  same  condi- 
tion. "  Weep  with  them  that  weep,"  etc.  There  is  some- 
thing in  that  worthy  of  our  attention.  You  must  enter  into 
our  feelings  if  we  are  in  trouble.  Try  to  catch  the  feeling. 
Oneness  of  feeling.  That's  the  idea.  Have  compassion  one 
for  another — be  of  the  same  feeling.  We  now  notice  another 
duty  inculcated  in  the  text.  "Love  as  brethren.''  Let  true 
love  be  maintained  in  the  church.  "  Love  as  brethren." 
That's  the  love.  This  opens  up  a  v.'ide  field  for  application. 
We  must  not  work  against  one  another.  There  are  a  great 
many  negative  things  we  must  not  do.  Some  people  go  to 
law  with  one  another.  We  should  not  do  that.  Christians 
can  not  go  to  law  with  one  another.  It  is  not  right. 
Christians  must  not  go  to  war.  Brethren  should  not  kill 
one  another,  and  whenever  we  admit  that  war  is  right,  we 
admit  the  propriety  of  Christians  coming  in  conflict  with  one 
another.  Christians  of  the  same  denomination  sometimes 
come  in  conflict  with  one  another.  What  was  the  condi- 
tion during  our  war  a  few  years  ago  ?  Why  on  the  fields  of 
Gettysburg  and  Antietam  members  of  the  same  denomina- 
tion met  and  fought  with  one  another.  It  was  the  case  also 
in  the  war  between  England  and  America ;  and  whenever 
we  adniit  the  justice  of  war  we  must  admit  the  propriety  of 
members  of  the  same  denomination  meeting  in  conflict. 
But  we  must  refrain  from  these  things.  Instead  of  fighting 
and  killing  one  another,  we'  must  be  kind  to  one  another, 
pitiful  and  courteous.  This  is  the  spirit  that  should  charac- 
terize Christians.  While  as  Christians  we  are  to  be  one  in 
heart,  and  love  as  brethren,  we  are  to  be  pitiful  and  courte- 
ous to  all  men.  Wiiat  is  pity  ?  Pit}'^  is  the  distress  pro- 
duced in  th«  mind  at  the  wrong  and  danger  of  others  ;  a  dis- 
tress produced  on  account  of  the  suffering  of  others.  We 
are  to  feel  for  every  one  that  suffers.     And   how  is  it  with 


ELDER   JAMES   QUINTER.  205 

the  outside  world  ?  Oh  !  when  we  look  at  the  sinner  stand- 
ing on  slippery  rocks  with  the  fiery  billows  rolling  beneath, 
what  pity  should  melt  our  hearts!  It  is  our  duty  to  feel 
distressed,  and  pity  is  something  we  ought  to  cultivate. 
And  then  be  courteous.  What  does  this  mean?  It  has 
reference  to  our  conduct  towards  one  another.  It  is  espe- 
cially associated  with  kindness  or  the  disposition  for  to  help. 
There  is  a  class  of  pretty  thoughts  connected  with  the 
subject  of  courtesy.  What  does  the  word  "courtesy  "  come 
from  ?  It  comes  from  the  honors  of  the  courts — the  courts 
of  kings  and  emperors.  There  is  a  great  deal  of  etiquette 
observed  by  that  class  that  associate  with  the  courts  of  kings. 
The  word  "courtesy"  comes  from  the  courts,  as  the 
word  rustic  comes  from  the  manners  of  rural  districts. 
But  don't  misunderstand  us.  The  courtesy  that  we  cul- 
tivate is  not  the  courtesy  observed  around  the  courts 
of  royal  greatness.  What  court  then?  The  court  of 
heaven.  For  this  courtesy  does  not  consist  in  outward  show, 
but  it  consists  in  kindness  of  heart,  and  respect  to  our  supe- 
riors and  inferiors.  It  is  the  observing  of  those  dignified 
and  holy  principles  that  govern  the  intercourse  between  high 
and  holy  beings.  Is  this  not  a  grand  thought?  Those  are 
the  manners  that  are  characteristic  of  the  divine  family, 
the  Son  of  God  himself,  and  the  angels  around  the  throne 
of  heaven.  There  was  once  a  rich  merchant  of  Liver- 
pool, who,  when  asked  how  he  succeeded  so  well  in 
accumulating  so  large  a  fortune,  replied,  "  By  my  civility 
to  others."  It  is  a  grand  characteristic.  It  is  one  of  the 
best  3'^ou  can  make  use  of.  Kespect  and  kindness  to  all, 
with  whom  you  associate  are  Christian  duties.  Students- 
be  courteous  one  to  another,  and  to  your  teachers,  husbands, 
wives,  parents  and  children,  be  courteous.  Observe  the 
habits  of  the  divine  family  and  the  divine  character.  I  can 
say  to  you,  being  the  oldest  in  the  room,  that  I  have  been 


206  SERMONS    OF 

for  forty  years  traveling  more  or  less  over  our  country,  alone 
and  in  company,  and  I  have  never  met  with  much  insult 
or  unkindness  from  those  among  whom  I  have  been  thrown. 
In  my  early  youth  I  tried  to  learn  these  Christian  manners, 
I  tried  to  be  civil.  I  say  not  this  to  boast,  but  for  your 
encouragement,  young  people.  And  in  a  similar  way,  we 
recommend  every  element  of  our  holy  religion.  Our  Chris- 
tianity leads  to  courtesy.  And,  my  hearers,  we  want  to  tell 
you  that  instead  of  giving  wrong  for  wrong,  and  evil  for 
evil,  you  must  on  the  other  hand,  give  good  for  evil.  You 
are  called  upon  to  bless  those  that  curse  you  and  despite- 
fully  use  you  as  Christ  did.  Don't  render  evil  for  evil,  but 
good  for  evil.  We  are  called  upon  to  do  that  by  the  Great 
Master,  under  whose  laws  we  should  live.  We  must  be 
loving  and  courteous  and  kind,  and  return  good  for  evil. 
We  would  like  to  dwell  upon  the  importance  of  cultivating 
these  feelings.  The  Spirit  of  God  plants  these  feelings  in 
our  hearts  at  our  conversion,  and  we  must  cultivate  them. 
We  come  into  the  world  little  babes,  with  two  hands,  ears 
and  eyes,  but,  you  know,  these  members  must  be  developed ; 
those  little  arms  must  be  made  strong.  We  must  develop 
those  little  forms  and  bring  them  to  maturity.  And  so  it  is 
with  the  virtues  planted  in  our  hearts  at  our  conversion. 
They  must  be  cultivated  and  developed.  Do  we  study 
Christianity  in  that  way  ?  We  can  not  expect  to  have  great 
strength  unless  we  cultivate  these  elements  of  Christian 
character.  Let  us  cultivate  the  feeling  of  brotherly  love, 
courtesy  and  kindness.  They  are  to  be  subjects  of  cultiva- 
tion. Our  attention  is  to  be  given  to  them  and  in  that  way 
we  will  become  men  and  women  in  Christ  and  will  greatly 
beautify  our  Christian  character. 

In  conclusion  notice  the  thought  that  if  we  would  in- 
herit a  blessing, we  must  tr}'^  to  bless  others  :  "  Not  rendering 
evil  for  evil,  or  railing  for  railing :  but  contrariwise  blessing ; 


ELDER   JAMES   QUINTER.  207 

knowing  that  ye  are  thereunto  called,  that  ye  should  inherit 
a  blessing."  Let  us  then  try  to  make  our  lives  a  blessing, 
and  we  shall  be  blessed  by  the  Lord  with  all  that  he  has 
promised  to  the  faithful. 


XV. 

THE    SERVANT   OF   GOD    IS    THE   SERVANT  OF 

HIS   AGE. 

"David,  after  he  had  served  his  own  generation  by  the 
will  of  God,  fell  on  sleep." — Acts  xiii.  36. 

The  words  of  our  text  were  used  in  a  discourse  delivered 
by  the  Apostle  Paul  at  Antioch.  The  apostle  was  permitted 
to  speak  to  the  people,  and  he  addressed  his  Jewish  breth- 
ren. He  gave  a  general  outline  of  God's  dealings  with  his 
ancient  people  down  to  the  time  of  the  Messiah.  And  in 
his  allusion  to  Christ,  the  apostle  alluded  to  his  resurrection. 
And  it  was  upon  the  subject  of  Christ's  resurrection  that  the 
words  of  our  text  were  used.  The  apostle  quoted  a  passage 
from  the  16th  Psalm,  the  words  of  David,  "Thou  shalt  not 
suffer  thine  Holy  One  to  see  corruption."  And  as  David 
saw  corruption,  it  was  evident  that  he  did  not  allude  to 
himself.  The  apostle  applied  it  to  Christ.  The  words  of 
our  text  are  an  incidental  allusion  of  David.  And  it  is 
worthy  of  observation  that  a  great  many  very  expressive, 
instructive  and  encouraging  texts  of  Scripture  are  of  this 
kind — incidental  allusions  to  some  persons  or  things  in  pur- 
suing an  argument,  or  some  train  of  thought.  David  is 
referred  to  as  being  a  servant  of  his  generation.  And  we 
use  the  text  in  a  broader  sense,  and  make  it  express  by 
implication    the   truth   that    the    servant   of    God   is    the 


208  SERMONS   OF 

servant  of  his  generation  or  age.  The  word  generation  in 
the  Scriptures  frequently  means  age.  And  b}'  age,  we 
understand  the  people  of  our  time,  or  the  time  to  wliich  the 
age  refers.  When  it  is  said  that  David  served  his  own 
generation,  it  means  he  served  tlie  people  that  lived  in  his 
age  of  the  world.  And  by  the  age  in  which  we  live,  and 
which  we  are  to  serve,  we  are  to  understand  the  people  who 
now  live  upon  the  earth. 

The  servants  of  God,  in  every  age  of  the  world,  are  to 
serve  their  age,  or  the  people  of  their  age.  And  to  serve 
our  age  effectually,  or  in  the  way  we  understand  we  are  to 
serve  it,  it  is  necessary  that  we  be  the  servants  of  God. 
We  can  not  render  that  complete  service  to  men  that  the}' 
need  to  promote  their  varied  and  highest  interests  unless  we 
are  the  servants  of  God.  God's  best  servants  are  men's  best 
servants.  All  who  do  not  serve  God,  can  serve  men  but 
imperfectly.  In  serving  men,  we  are  not  to  serve  them  in 
doing  their  will,  but  serve  them  in  doing  them  good.  There 
is  a  sense  in  which  we  are  not  to  serve  men.  "  Ye  are  bought 
with  a  price ;  be  not  ye  the  servants  of  men." — 1  Cor.  vii.  23 
There  is  also  a  sense  in  which  we  are  to  serve  men :  "  For, 
brethren,  we  have  been  called  unto  liberty;  only  use  not. 
liberty  for  an  occasion  to  the  flesh,  but  by  love  serve  one 
another." — Gal.  v.  13.  If  a  company  of  four  or  five  of  you 
young  men  or  3^oung  women  would  plan  some  project  for 
improper  amusement,  and  would  ask  another  to  unite  with 
you,  and  he  would  refuse,  and  you  would  urge  him,  and  say 
to  him  you  do  not  serve  us  right  by  declining  to  take  part 
with  us  in  our  contemplated  sport,  the  one  who  would 
decline,  and  tell  you  that  you  would  all  better  abandon  it 
than  to  prosecute  it,  would  really  serve  his  companions  bet- 
ter by  declining  than  by  consenting.  God's  servants  serve 
men  as  he  serves  them  ;  he  does  not  minister  to  their  lusts 
and  impure  desires,  neither  do  they. 


ELDER  JAMES  QUINTER.  209 

I.  How  shall  we  serve  our  generation  ? 

1.  By  laboring,  to  the  extent  of  our  ability,  to  remove 
ever}^  cause  of  evil  which  exists  among  us.  There  is  a  ter- 
rible weight  of  misery  resting  upon  the  people  of  our  age, 
as  there  has  been  upon  tlie  people  of  every  age,  in  the  form 
of  ignorance,  superstition,  pride,  intemperance,  and  all  the 
evils  that  have  been  caused  by  the  introduction  of  sin  into 
the  world.  From  these  evils  men  should  be  delivered. 
They  need  help,  both  human  and  divine.  It  is  for  us  to 
give  them  the  human  help,  as  God  may  enable  us  to  do  so. 

2.  By  laboring  to  establish  right  principles  among  those 
to  whom  our  influence  extends.  Character  is  the  embodi- 
ment of  principle.  Right  principles,  reduced  to  practice, 
will  result  in  the  formation  of  good  character,  while  wrong 
principles,  reduced  to  practice,  will  result  in  making  bad 
character.  The  idea,  entertained  by  many,  that  it  does  not 
matter  what  people  believe,  so  their  lives  are  right,  is  very 
true,  but  while  this  is  so,  it  is  equally  true  that  if  we  would 
attain  unto  a  right  life  we  must  not  be  indifferent  to  prin- 
ciples, since  a  right  life  can  only  result  from  right  principles. 
The  idea  prevails  extensively  that  if  people  are  sincere  in 
their  belief,  they  will  not  be  condemned  by  the  Lord.  This 
we  believe  is  very  unsafe  ground  to  occupy.  Sincerity  is  a 
very  important  element  in  Christian  character,  but  it  is  only 
one  of  the  many  elements  which  form  a  Christian  character. 
If  sincerity  constitutes  a  right  character,  then  some  of  the 
lowest  characters  among  the  Catholics,  Mormons,  and  other 
denominations  would  be  right,  for  many  such  are  very  sin- 
cere. But,  as  already  intimated,  sincerity  is  but  one  ele- 
ment of  Christian  character,  and  as  all  the  sounds  of  the 
English  alphabet  are  necessary  to  form  our  language,  so  all 
the  principles  of  Christianity  are  necessary  to  form  a  com- 
plete Christian  character.  Hence,  those  wHo  would  serve 
their  generation  to  the  best  advantage  should  labor  to  pro- 
mote sound  doctrine  and  right  principles. 


210  SERMONS   OF 

3.  But  right  principles  to  form  right  character  must  be 
not  only  heard  and  believed,  but  also  obeyed,  or  practiced. 
So,  to  serve  our  generation  we  must  not  only  labor  to  incul- 
cate and  establish  good  principles,  but  we  must  also  labor 
to  get  people  to  practicall}^  accept  Christian  principles.  One 
department  in  the  Christian  ministry  is  exliortation.  This 
differs  from  teaching  in  this:  That  while  simple  teaching 
communicates  knowledge,  exhortation  is  designed  to  stir  up 
the  feeling  and  to  move  to  action. 

To  serve  our  generation  eflPectually,  then,  we  must  labor 
to  make  people  good.  And  we  must  labor  in  our  various 
callings  in  life  to  accomplish  this.  The  minister  must  labor 
in  his  calling  to  serve  his  generation  by  making  people  Chris- 
tians. To  this  he  is  especially  called.  The  parents  should 
labor  for  the  same  end,  and  their  position  is  such  that  gives 
them  great  influence,  and  that  influence  should  be  judiciously 
directed  to  promote  the  welfare  of  all  within  their  influence. 
Teachers  in  all  our  schools  should  serve  their  generation  by 
laboring  to  improve  not  only  the  intellect  of  their  scholars, 
but  also  their  hearts.  The  Sabbath-school  offers  a  very  in- 
viting field  in  which  the  generation  of  the  young  may  be 
served.  And  you,  young  people,  should  endeavor  to  serve 
one  another  and  all  whom  3'ou  can  serve.  You  all  can  ren- 
der service  which  will  tend  to  lessen  the  cares  and  labors  of 
others,  and  promote  their  peace  and  comfort.  Whatever 
happiness  any  one  is  the  means  of  promoting,  is  so  much 
added  to  the  stock  of  human  enjoyment.  And  the  least  evil 
that  is  corrected,  is  so  much  taken  from  the  load  of  human 
misery  that  is  crushing  so  many. 

II.  "Why  should  we  serve  our  generation  ? 

1.  It  is  the  will  of  God  that  we  should  do  so.  The  text 
says  that  David  "  by  the  will  of  God  served  his  generation  " 
And  is  it  not  equally  true  that  it  is  the  will  of  God  that  we 
all  should  serve  our  generation  ?     It  has  already  been  inti- 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTEB.  211 

mated  that  God  himself  serves  his  creatures.  Jesus  said  to 
the  Jews,  "  My  Father  worketh  hitlierto,  and  I  work." — 
John  V.  17.  And  our  Lord,  in  speaking  of  himself,  said,  "  The 
Son  of  man  came  not  to  be  ministered  unto,  but  to  minister, 
and  to  give  his  hfe  a  ransom  for  many." — Matt.  xx.  28. 
And  as  the  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Spirit  are  actively  engaged 
in  promoting  the  highest  interest  of  mankind,  their  spiritual 
offspring  will  be  engaged  in  the  same  noble  work.  As  God's 
will  is  contained  in  his  law,  whatever  is  his  law  is  also  his 
will.  The  second  commandment  is  "  Thou  shalt  love  thy 
neighbor  as  thyself." — Mark  xii.  31,  This  commandment 
evidentl}'  puts  us  all  under  obligation  to  serve  our  age.  It 
is  then  the  will  and  law  of  God  that  we  serve  one  another, 
and  serve  our  generation.  Disinterested  benevolence  is  a 
distinguishing  peculiarity  of  the  divine  nature,  and  it  should 
also  be  of  the  Christian  character.  The  servants  of  God  co- 
operate with  him  in  all  his  holy  purposes,  and  as  he  is  con- 
stantly laboring  to  promote  the  w^ell  being  of  his  creatures, 
his  servants  will  not  be  idle,  but  will  labor  for  the  same  end 
for  which  he  is  laboring. 

To  serve  our  generation  effectually,  so  that  our  service 
will  have  the  greatest  effect  upon  those  for  whom  w^e  labor, 
and  at  the  same  time  be  acceptable  to  God,  it  must  be 
prompted  by  love.  "  God  is  love."  Love  is  one  of  the  divine 
attributes.  Love  will  therefore  be  an  element  in  every 
Christian  character.  And  tliis  love  will  be  the  basis  of  the 
service  that  we  are  to  render  to  our  generation.  And  love 
as  the  basis  will  not  only  prompt  us  to  labor,  but  it  will  also 
make  the  service  pleasant  and  self-sacrificing  to  those  who 
perform  it.  To  labor  successfully  in  any  department  of 
Christian  labor,  we  must  love  the  labor  we  perform.  God 
loves  a  cheerful  giver.  And  the  charities  bestowed  and  the 
labors  performed  will  be  received  with  greatly  increased  en- 
jovment  by  their  recipients,  when  they  can  feel  that  their 
benefactors  loved  to  give. 


212  SERMONS    OF 

2.  We  are  under  obligation  to  serve  our  own  age  as 
former  ages  have  served  us.  The  apostle  asked  his  Corin- 
thian brethren  the  following  question  :  "  What  hast  thou  that 
thou  didst  not  receive?" — 1  Cor.  iv.  7.  We  have  but  little 
that  we  ourselves  are  the  authors  of.  And  while  we  recog- 
nize God  to  be  the  author  and  giver  of  all  good,  it  is  through 
our  own  age  and  others  before  ours  that  God  has  given  us 
his  blessings.  The  books  we  read,  our  institutions  intellect- 
ual and  moral,  the  wholesome  and  beneficent  laws  under 
which  we  live,  have  come  to  us  through  human  agency,  or 
the  agency  of  society.  The  accumulated  and  valuable  treas- 
ures of  former  ages  this  age  inherits.  And  if  this  is  true  in 
regard  to  temporal  blessings,  it  is  no  less  true  in  regard  to 
spiritual  blessings.  Paul  said  to  Timothy  :  "The  things  that 
thou  hast  heard  of  me  among  many  witnesses,  the  same  com 
mit  thou  to  faithful  men,  who  shall  be  able  to  teach  others 
also." — 2  Tim.  ii.  2.  It  is  through  the  medium  of  human 
agents  that  "  the  glorious  gospel  of  the  blessed  God,"  with 
all  its  records,  ordinances  and  institutions,  has  come  down  to 
us.  And  for  all  we  have  and  are  to-day  we  are  indebted  to 
those  of  the  present  age,  and  to  the  ages  of  the  past,  under 
God.  All  our  hopes  and  comforts  that  we  as  (Christians  en- 
joy, we  are  in  some  degree  indebted  to  Christians  for.  .  A 
solemn  sense,  then,  of  our  obligations  to  the  age  in  which  we 
live,  should  prompt  us  to  serve  it  faithfully,  and  by  so  doing 
we  will  be  serving  God. 

There  is  another  thought,  in  this  connection,  that  we 
should  not  overlook.  The  Christians  of  this  age  are  the 
binding  link  that  unites  the  past  to  the  future.  As  the  gos- 
pel, then,  with  its  precious  blessings,  has  come  down  to  us  as 
a  rich  legacy  from  the  ages  of  the  past,  let  us  preserve  the 
divine  treasure  in  its  integrity,  and  hand  it  down  to  the 
coming  age  as  we  have  received  it.  In  this  way  we  may  not 
only  serve  the  present  age,  but  the  future  also.     How  wide 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTER.  213 

is  the  field  of  labor  which  opens  before  us,  and  how  many 
are  our  opportunities  fordoing  good!  And  as  our  oppor- 
tunities for  doing  good  are  great,  our  responsibilities  are 
correspondingly  great. 

3.  Another  consideration  prompting  to  the  duty  of  serv- 
ing our  generation  is  the  peaceful  end  to  which  such  a  life  of 
duty,  faithfulness  and  service  will  lead.  "For  David,  after 
he  had  served  his  generation  by  the  will  of  God,  fell  on 
sleep."  This  suggests  a  period  of  rest  after  labor.  How 
welcome  to  the  man  of  labor  is  the  night  of  rest!  And  no 
less  welcome  will  be  the  night  of  death  to  the  faithful 
Christian  who  has  served  his  generation.  Death  to  him  will 
be  a  rest — a  calm  repose.  There  remains  a  rest  for  the  peo- 
ple of  God  after  their  life  of  suffering,  conflict  and  labor 
is  over. 

But  the  sleep  of  David,  and  of  all  God's  faithful  servants 
which  thev  fall  into  w^hen  thair  labors  are  over,  sugo-ests 
also  a  re-awakening.  David  saw  corruption,  and  so  do  all 
the  faithful.  But  light  shines  from  the  gospel  on  the  grave, 
and  we  hear  Paul  saying,  "  It  is  sown  in  corruption,  it  is 
raised  in  incorruption." — 1  Cor.  xv.  42.  Blessed  thought! 
"What  a  delightful  prospect!  At  death,  while  the  body 
sleeps  in  the  grave,  the  spirit  rests  with  Jesus.  In  the  glo- 
rious resurrection  of  the  just,  the  body  and  spirit  will  be 
re-united,  and  eternal  life  will  be  completed. 

Let  OS  all  serve  our  God  and  our  generation,  that  the 
reward  of  the  faithful  servant  may  be  ours. 


214  SERMONS    OF 

XVI. 

CHRIST'S  SAYINGS  DESIGNED  TO   PROMOTE 
OUR  HAPPINESS. 

"  These  things  have  I  spoken  unto  you  that  mj  joy 
might  remain  in  you  and  that  your  joy  might  be  full." — 
John  15  :  11. 

Tliese  words  constitute  a  part  of  our  Lord's  farewell  dis- 
course to  his  disciples.  And  while  the  same  design,  namely, 
the  happiness  of  his  disciples,  characterized  all  his  dis- 
courses, the  phrase,  "  these  sayings,"  had,  we  presume, 
special  reference  to  the  discourse  of  which  they  are  a  part. 
We  offer  our  remarks  under  two  general  heads.  I.  The 
tilings  spoken.  II.  The  declaimed  object  fo^  which  he  spoke 
them. 

I.  The  things  spoken.  And  these  may  be  justly  classed 
under  several  heads,  a  few  of  which  we  shall  notice.  1.  We 
may  notice  some  of  the  doctrines  which  are  contained  in 
his  discourse.  And  among  these  may  be  mentioned  (a)  the 
doctrine  of  human  helplessness.  "  Without  me,"  said  the 
Lord,  "ye  can  do  nothing."  V.  5.  He  evidently  meant 
they  could  do  nothing  good  without  him.  In  our  fall  we 
lost  our  moral  strength.  Sin  renders  its  subjects  feeble,  as 
well  as  guilt x'^  and  defiled.  How  weak  is  man  often  in 
resolving  to  reform  and  live  a  holy  life,  and  he  is  often  still 
more  weak  in  carrying  out  his  resolutions  when  he  attempts 
to  do  so  in  his  own  strength,  (b)  The  second  doctrine  we 
shall  notice  is  that  God  has  provided  help  to  meet  us  in  our 
helpless  condition,  and  that  help  is  afforded  us  in  Christ. 
When  our  Lord  affirmed,  "  Without  me  ye  can  do  nothing," 
his  language  evidently  implied  that  with  him  they  could  do 
something. 

In  the  89th  Psalm  there  is  a  reference  to  the  Saviour  in 
the  following  words :     "  When  thou  spakest  in  vision  to  thy 


ELDER   JAilES    QUINTER.  215 

holy  one,  and  saidst,  I  have  laid  help  upon  one  that  is 
mighty :  I  have  exalted  one  chosen  out  of  the  people." 
V.  19.  This  vision  of  prophecy  had  reference  to  Christ,  the 
son  of  David,  as  well  as  to  David  himself.  He  is  represented 
to  be  the  mighty  Redeemer  of  his  church.  This  is  indeed 
an  encouraging  view  of  our  Lord.  We  needed  a  mighty 
Saviour  to  save  us  for  we  were  utterly  lost  and  ruined. 
Here  is  comfort  for  the  young  and  for  the  old.  He  is  able 
to  help  the  tender  youth,  and  also  those  who  are  old  and 
frail.  He  is  a  mighty  Saviour.  "  All  power,"  said  he,  "  is 
given  unto  me  in  heaven  and  earth." — Math.  28 :  18.  And 
in  view  of  the  mighty  power  of  our  Redeemer,  the  apostle 
Paul  had  the  utmost  confidence  in  his  sufficiency  to  render 
him  all  the  help  that  he  needed,  and  he  declared,  ''I  can  do 
all  things  through  Christ  which  strengtheneth  me." — Phil. 
4:  13.  How  beautifully  does  Paul's  language  fit  up  to  that 
of  our  Lord's:  "Without  me  ye  can  do  nothing."  "lean  do 
all  things  through  Christ  strengthening  me."  We  then  have 
an  all-sufficient  Helper  provided,  and  none,  not  even  the 
weakest,  need  be  discouraged,  much  less  have  any  occasion 
to  despair.  While  we  are  greatly  humbled  at  our  Lord's 
declaration  that  we  can  do  nothing  without  him,  we  are  also 
greatly  honored  in  him,  since  we  can  do  all  things  through 
him.  The  gospel  system  is  both  an  humbling  and  an  exalt- 
ing system.  It  humbles  the  sinner  and  exalts  the  saint;  it 
humbles  man  and  exalts  the  Lord.  So  the  doctrine  of  salva- 
tion through  Christ  alone  has  nothing  in  it  that  should  ren- 
der it  repulsive  toman. 

(c)  The  third  doctrine  alluded  to  in  "the  things"  of 
our  text,  and  taught  by  our  Lord  in  his  discourse  of  which 
our  text  is  a  part,  is  the  doctrine  that  we  must  be  brought 
'into  fellowship  with  Christ,  in  order  that  we  may  avail  our- 
selves of  his  saving  power  and  merits.  The  connection  that 
is  to  exist  between  him  and  his  disciples  is  a  very  close  con- 


216  SERMONS   OF 

nection.  It  is  not  a  mechanical  or  an  architectural  con- 
nection, or  such  a  connection  as  exists  between  the  different 
parts  of  a  machine  or  a  building.  These  connections  are 
often  very  close,  so  much  so  that  y-ou  can  scarcely  perceive 
where  the  different  parts  are  joined  together.  The  con- 
nection between  Christ  and  his  genuine  disciples  is  a  con- 
nection of  growth,  a  vital  connection.  It  is  illustrated  in 
our  Lord's  discourse  by  the  parable  of  the  vine:  "I  am  the 
vine,  ye  are  the  branches,"  said  he  to  his  disciples.  Then  a 
connection  like  that  which  exists  between  the  branches  and 
the  vine,  must  exist  between  Christians  and  Christ.  It  must 
be  a  very  close  connection,  one  of  growth.  The  branches 
grow  on  the  vine,  and  Christians  must  grow  on  Christ.  The 
divine  and  vital  power  must  pass  from  Christ  to  Christians, 
as  the  sap  passes  from  the  vine  to  the  branches.  The  mar- 
ginal reading  of  the  phrase,  "Witliout  me  ye  can  do  noth- 
ino*,"  is,  "severed  from  me  ye  can  do  nothing."  So  we 
must  be  in  close  fellowship  with  Christ  to  avail  ourselves 
fully  of  his  power  and  merits.  "  As  the  branch  can  not  bear 
fruit  of  itself,  except  it  abide  in  the  vine ;  no  more  can  ye, 
except  ye  abide  in  me."  The  branch  does  not  only  depend 
upon  the  vine  for  its  fruitfulness,  but  it  also  depends  upon  it 
for  its  very  life.  As  it  is  with  the  branches  and  the  vine,  so 
it  is  in  regard  to  Christ  and  believers.  The  believer  apart 
from  Christ  can  neither  live  nor  bear  fruit.  Christ  lives  in 
all  the  true  members  of  his  Church,  as  the  spirit  of  man  ani- 
mates and  rules  every  part  of  the  human  body.  This  vital 
and  close  connection  between  Christ  and  believers  is  very 
clearlv  and  forcibl}'  set  forth  b}'^  the  apostle  Paul  in  the  fol- 
io win  o-  w^ords  :  "  We  are  members  of  his  body,  of  his  flesh, 
and  of  his  bones." — Eph.  5: 30.  This  is  a  very  practical  and 
comforting  doctrine.  The  believer's  connection  with  Christ 
secures  to  him  the  life  and  power,  and  merits  and  glory 
of  Christ. 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTEB.  217 

This  close  and  vital  connection  between  Christ  and 
believers  is  not  only  taught  us  by  the  apostle  Paul,  but  he 
likewise  alludes  to  the  manner  in  which  it  is  brought  about. 
To  the  Galatian  brethren  he  says,  "  For  as  many  of  you  as 
have  been  baptized  into  Christ  have  put  on  Christ." — Gal. 
3 :  27.  This  is  in  perfect  harmonv  with  the  formula  for  bap- 
tizing believers.  "  Go  ye,  therefore,  and  teach  all  nations, 
baptizing  them  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son, 
and  of  the  Holy  Ghost."— Math.  28 :  19.  Instead  of  the 
reading  baptizing  them  in  the  name,  our  best  scholars  now 
read,  baptizing  them  into,  etc.  So  believers  are  not  only 
brought  by  their  acceptance  of  Christian  truth,  into  connec- 
tion with  Christ,  but  also  with  the  Father  and  with  the  Holy 
Spirit  as  well. 

(d)  Another  important  doctrine  taught  by  our  Lord  in 
his  farewell  discourse  to  his  disciples,  and  alluded  to  in  our 
text,  is  the  doctrine  that  the  divme  power  and  efficacy  of 
Christ  are  communicated  through  the  medium  of  the  words 
of  Christ.  "  Now  ye  are  clean  through  the  word  which  I 
have  spoken  unto  you.  V.  3.  This  embraces  our  Lord's 
whole  teaching.  By  his  teaching  believers  are  cleansed. 
There  is  in  his  word  believed  and  obeyed,  a  cleansing  power. 
Hence  the  declaration  of  Paul,  "  For  I  am  not  ashamed  of 
the  gospel  of  Christ ;  for  it  is  the  power  of  God  unto  salva- 
tion to  every  one  that  believeth  ;  to  the  Jew  first,  and  also 
to  the  Greek." — Rom.  1  :  16.  The  gospel,  then,  is  the  power 
of  God  unto  salvation.  But  what  is  the  gospel  of  Christ  ? 
It  is  made  up  of  facts,  doctrines,  ordinances,  promises,  etc. 
And  all  these  become  the  channels  through  which  the  grace 
of  Christ  is  imparted  to  believers.  There  is  an  error  obtains 
with  some  persons  in  regard  to  Christian  ordinances  or 
Christian  rites.  Some  seem  to  look  upon  them  as  mere 
forms.  They  are  forms,  but  forms  which  contain  spiritual 
and  divine  truths.     The  Bible  itself  containing  God's  recog- 


218  SERMONS   OF 

nized  revelation  of  saving  truth  to  man,  has  a  form,  but  it  is 
not  only  a  form,  but  it  is  also  a  power,  it  contains  the  seed 
of  living  truth.  And  it  is  so  with  Christian  ordinances  as 
well  as  with  other  parts  of  the  gospel.  The  whole  system 
of  Christian  truth  in  all  its  parts  contains  divine  power  in  it. 
We  hiave  the  following  statement  of  some  important  truths 
by  the  apostle,  which  seems  to  confirm  the  view  of  the  gospel 
which  has  been  stated  above  :  "  Christ  also  loved  the  church, 
and  gave  himself  for  it;  that  he  migiit  sanctify  and  cleanse  it 
with  the  washing  of  water  by  the  word,  that  he  might  present 
himself  a  glorious  church,  not  having  spot,  or  wrinkle,  or 
any  such  thing;  but  that  it  should  be  holy  and  without 
blemish."  Eph.  5 :  25-27.  In  the  above  passage  the 
apostle  represents  Christ  as  cleansing  the  church  by  the 
washing  of  water  by  the  word.  By  "  washing  of  water," 
baptism  is  meant.  This  is  admitted  by  commentators.  The 
ordinance,  then,  is  accompanied  with  divine  power  when  it 
is  properly  received.  But  it  must  be  noticed  that  the  wash- 
ing must  be  by  the  word.  It  is  the  place  that  baptism  has 
in  the  word  of  God  or  the  gospel  that  gives  it  the  power  it 
has.  Instances  have  occurred  where  persons  have  been 
present  at  baptismal  scenes  and  have  been  made  to  feel, 
witnessing  the  performance  of  baptism,  the  power  of  con- 
viction. Similar  effects  have  been  produced  in  witnessing 
the  performance  of  the  ordinance  of  feet-washing.  There 
is  a  language  in  symbols  as  well  as  in  words,  and  s\nnbolic 
language,  as  well  as  written  and  spoken  language,  may  con- 
vey truth  to  the  mind.  If  we  refer  to  one  of  the  evangel- 
ists, and  read  his  account  of  our  Lord's  death,  that  event  is 
brought  feelingly  to  the  mind.  When  the  same  event  is 
presented  in  the  bread  and  wine,  the  emblems  of  our  Lord's 
body  and  blood,  it  also  feelingly  impresses  the  serious  and 
reflecting  mind.  The  apostle  says,  in  referring  to  the  com- 
munion service :  "  For  as  often  as  you  eat  this  bread,  and 


ELDER  JAMES  QUINTER.  219 

drink  this  cup,  ye  do  shew  the  Lord's  death  till  he  comes." 
1  Cor.  11  :  26.  Christian  rites  or  ordinances,  then,  have  a 
language,  and  through  that  language  Christian  truth  is  con- 
veyed to  the  mind.  Christian  ordinances  and  rites,  then, 
are  not  mere  forms ;  but  they  are  the  vehicles  of  divine 
truth  as  the  written  word  is. 

2.  The  second  class  of  things  referred  to  in  our  text  we 
shall  call  inst7'uctio7i.  Much  of  our  Lord's  farewell  dis- 
course is  of  an  instructive  character.  And  in  that  part 
which  stands  in  connection  with  our  text  there  are  some 
important  lessons  taught  us.  We  are  taught  how  we  may 
glorify  our  heavenly  Father.  "  Herein  is  my  father  glori- 
fied that  ye  bear  much  fruit ;  so  shall  ye  be  my  disciples." 
V.  8.  We  see  it  is  by  bearing  much  fruit  that  we  glorify 
God.  We  also  learn  that  true  discipleship  is  conditioned 
upon  our  bearing  fruit,  and  not  only  so,  but  upon  our  bear- 
ing much  fruit.  These  are  important  lessons.  In  the  fol- 
lowing words  of  our  Lord's  discourse,  he  tells  his  disciples 
that  he  loved  them  :  "  As  the  Father  hath  loved  me,  so 
have  I  loved  you ;  continue  ye  in  my  love."  V.  9.  It  is  a 
sweet  and  encouraging  thought  to  us  to  know  that  the 
Redeemer  loves  us.  And  it  is  very  desirable  that  we  are  to 
continue  in  his  love:  "If  ye  keep  my  commandments,  ye 
shall  abide  in  my  love  ;  even  as  I  have  kept  my  Father's 
commandments,  and  abide  in  his  love."  Y.  10.  These 
instructions  are  plain  and  practical,  and  we  should  study 
them  well,  and  act  upon  them. 

3.  The  third  class  of  things  referred  to  in  our  text  we 
shall  call  admonitions.  There  are  admonitions  as  well  as 
doctrines  and  instructions  contained  in  our  Lord's  discourse 
from  which  our  text  is  taken.  To  admonish  is  to  warn. 
This  is  one  of  the  meanings  of  admonition,  and  in  this 
sense  we  here  use  it.  And  warning  implies  danger.  The 
danger  to    which   the  disciples  were  exposed  was   that  of 


220  SERMONS   OF 

departing  from  their  Lord,  and  by  departing  from  him  they 
would  become  unfruitful  and  withered  branches,  and  thus 
be  in  danger  of  being  burned.  The  following  passage  con- 
tains one  of  his  solemn  admonitions:  "If  a  man  abide  not 
in  me,  he  is  cast  forth  as  a  branch,  and  is  withered;  and 
men  gather  them  and  cast  them  into  the  fire,  and  they  are 
burned/'  Y.  6.  "He  is  cast  forth."  A  terrible  doom! 
The  unfruitful  member  of  the  church  is  often  separated 
from  the  church  in  this  world  because  of  his  unfaithfulness. 
But  he  ma}^  evade  the  scrutiny  of  the  church  and  remain  in 
it  until  death.  But  none  wanting  the  wedding  garment  will 
escape  the  scrutiny  of  the  King  who  will  examine  the  guests 
at  the  marriage  supper.  -'  He  is  cast  forth,"  out  of  the 
church  and  out  of  the  world,  to  perish  with  the  ungodly 
Such  a  solemn  warning  should  lead  to  watchfulness  and 
prayer.  It  has  been  justly  said  that  these  words  of  our 
Lord  "  demand  rather  to  be  trembled  at  than  need  to  be 
expounded." 

II.  In  the  second  place,  we  shall  notice  •the  design  for 
which  the  Saviour  spoke  as  he  did  to  his  disciples:  "  That 
my  joy  might  remain  in  you,  and  that  your  joy  might  be 
full."  From  this  language  it  appears  there  was  a  mutual 
joy  between  our  Lord  and  his  disciples.  He  had  joy  in 
them.  It  is  one  of  the  distinguishing  features  of  Christians 
that  they  "rejoice  in  Christ  Jesus."  Phil.  3:3.  And  it  is 
also  said  by  the  Psalmist  that  "  the  Lord  taketh  pleasure  in 
them  that  fear  him,  in  those  that  hope  in  his  mercy."  Psa. 
147 :  11.  It  is  remarkable  that  our  Lord  should  speak  of  his 
joy  at  the  time  he  was  speaking  to  his  disciples.  He  was 
near  Gethsemane  and  the  Cross.  And  yet  he  was  joyful ! 
His  joy  arose  from  his  consciousness  that  he  was  doing  the 
will  of  his  heavenly  Father,  and  that  his  Father  loved  him. 
Hence,  no  outward  circumstances,  however  distressing  and 
painful  they  might  be,  could  disturb  his  joy.     And  so  it 


ELDER  JAMES  QUINTER.  221 

may  be  with  us.  If  our  joy  is  "in  the  Lord,"  no  troubles 
and  afflictions  can  rob  us  of  it.  The  light  of  God's  counte- 
nance cheered  him  in  his  darkest  hours,  and  so  will  it  cheer 
us.  Hence  he  was  anxious  that  his  disciples  might  be  faith- 
ful, so  that  their  joy  might  continue  and  even  be  full.  To 
love  God  and  to  be  loved  by  him  is  to  secure  a  fullness  of 
joy.  By  Christian  joy  all  the  capacities  of  the  soul  are 
filled.  Who  then  would  not  be  a  Christian  ?  And  who 
that  is  a  Christian,  and  is  connected  with  Christ,  would  lose 
that  connection,  and  forfeit  his  joy  and  be  cast  forth  and 
burned  ? 

How  strange  that  any  should  entertain  the  idea  that 
Christianity  tends  to  make  us  melancholy  !  It  produces  joy 
in  heaven,  and  on  earth,  in  the  divine,  and  in  the  human 
heart !  "  That  my  joy  may  remain  in  you,  and  that  your 
joy  may  be  full." 


XYIl. 
THE   SERVICE  OF  LOYE. 


"And  if  the  servant  shall  plainly  say,  I  love  my  master 
my  wife  and  my  children :  I  will  not  go  out  free.  Then 
iiis  master  shall  bring  him  unto  the  judges;  he  shall  also 
bring  him  to  the  door,  or  unto  the  door-post;  and  his  mas- 
ter sliall  bore  his  ear  through  with  an  awl ;  and  he  shall 
serve  liim  forever." — Ex.  21:  5,  6. 

There  was  a  system  of  slavery  admitted  under  the  Mosaic 
economy.  But  it  did  not  sanction  modern  slavery.  The 
advocates  of  slavery  in  the  Southern  States  used  the  slavery 
of  the  Hebrews  to  justify  theirs.  But  the  candid  reader  or 
inquirer  will  readily  perceive  in  comparing  tlic  two  that  there 


222  SERMONS   OF 

is  but  little  similarity  between  them.  There  is  a  spirit  of 
benevolence  in  the  divine  revelation  of  God  designed  to 
bring  about  the  emancipation  of  our  race  from  all  forms  of 
oppression.  In  the  modern  system  of  slavery,  man  is  made 
a  mere  chattel.  But  in  the  Hebrew  form  of  servitude 
referred  to  in  our  text,  the  servant's  manhood  is  recognized, 
and  his  sovereignty  over  himself  showed  by  the  circum- 
stance that  he  was  allowed  the  privilege  of  choosing  whether 
to  remain  a  servant,  or  to  go  out  free  at  the  close  of  six 
years. 

The  system  of  servitude  alluded  to  in  our  text  is  a  beau- 
tiful type  of  the  service  of  love,  which  we  are  to  render  to 
God,  our  great  and  common  Master.  He  only  was  to  serve 
"for  ever''  who  preferred  to  do  so  on  account  of  the  love  he 
had  to  his  master  and  to  his  wife  and  children.  The  service 
of  love  is  a  pleasant  and  delightful  service.  Of  it  the  ser- 
vant never  becomes  weary.  This  is  the  true  Christian  ser- 
vice rendered  by  Christians  to  God.  Christians  are  not 
kept  in  the  service  of  God  against  their  will.  Christian  sol- 
diers are  not  conscripts  pressed  into  the  army  of  the  Lord 
against  their  will,  but  they  are  volunteers.  Their  language 
is  "  I  love  my  Master,  and  will  not  go  out  free."  Love  as  a 
principle  of  obedience  renders  it  pleasant  to  him  who  per- 
forms the  service,  and  also  to  him  that  requires  the  service. 

In  illustrating  and  applying  the  service  of  love,  we  shall 
look  at  it  exemplified  in  the  service  rendered  by  our  Saviour. 
He  was  a  servant.  He  accepted  the  title  and  the  work  of  a 
servant.  He  is  called  the  Lord's  servant.  (Isaiah  42 :  1.) 
And  he  should  be  regarded  as  our  example  in  his  character 
as  a  servant  as  well  as  an  humble  and  devout  worshiper. 
We  should  never  forget  that  our  blessed  Redeemer  is  in  all 
things  our  great  pattern.  And  we  should  ever  be  found 
"  looking  unto  Jesus."  The  great  work  that  he  came  to 
accomplish  was  our  redemption.     Every  joyful  emotion  and 


ELDER   JAMES   QUINTEE.  223 

every  spiritual  comfort  that  we  experience  is  the  fruit  of  his 
labor.  His  labor  was  arduous,  his  life  one  of  continual  «elf- 
denial  and  his  death  ignominious  and  painful  in  the  extreme. 
Nevertheless,  he  prosecuted  his  work,  not  only  with  cheer- 
fulness, but  with  delight.  His  great  work  was  indeed  a  ser- 
vice of  love.  It  was  characterized  by  love  to  God  and  love 
to  man.  In  the  followmg  expressions  of  our  Lord,  we  see  the 
spirit  in  which  he  prosecuted  his  redemptive  work :  "  Sac- 
rifice and  offering  thou  didst  not  desire ;  mine  ears  hast  thou 
opened ;  burnt-offering  and  sin-offering  hast  thou  not 
required.  Then  said  I,  Lo,  I  come;  in  the  volume  of  the 
book  it  is  written  of  me,  I  delight  to  do  thy  will,  O,  my 
God ;  yea,  thy  law  is  within  my  heart."  (Ps.  40 :  6-8.)  The 
apostle  Paul  quotes  this  passage  and  applies  it  to  Christ.  In 
the  phrase,  "  Mine  ears  hast  thou  opened,"  in  the  marginal 
reading  we  have,  "Mine  ear  hast  thou  digged."  This  is  the 
same  in  the  Hebrew  as  bored.  And  there  is  evidently  an 
allusion  to  the  idea  in  our  text  of  the  servant  preferring  to 
remain  in  his  master's  famih%  and  submitting  to  the  law  for 
having  his  ear  bored.  And  the  language  as  our  Lord  used 
it  implies  that  he  was  wholly  consecrated  to  the  work  which 
he  came  to  perform,  and  that  he  would  prosecute  that  work 
to  the  end,  whatever  sacrifices  he  would  have  to  make,  or 
whatever  suffering  he  would  have  to  endure.  Loving  obe- 
dience he  pledged  to  his  Father  "forever,"  and  as  an  expres- 
sion of  this,  he  is  represented  as  having  his  ear  bored, 
according  to  the  law  referred  to  in  our  text.  "  I  delight 
to  do  thy  will,  O,  my  God.  Tea,  thy  law  is  within  my 
heart."  Such  was  the  interest  and  pleasure  our  Lord  took 
in  his  work.  "With  desire  have  I  desired  to  eat  this 
passover  with  you  before  I  suffer,"  said  he  to  his  dis- 
ciples. (Luke  22 :  15.)  With  the  terrible  sufferings  that 
were  to  terminate  His  holy  and  blessed  life  in  full  view,  he 
went  forward  deterred  by  no  threatening,  and  discouraged 
bv  no  trouble. 


224  SERMONS.  OF 

Now,  as  the  same  mind  is  to  be  in  us  that  was  in  our 
Lord  (Phil.  2:  5),  all  who  have  faith  in  Him  and  sympathize 
with  Him,  and  enjoy  His  divine  presence,  will  with  Him  run 
in  the  ways  of  God's  commandments,  as  He  had  enlarged 
their  hearts.  (Ps.  119  :  32.)  To  such  the  service  of  God 
will  be  a  "  service  of  love,"  and  His  ways  will  be  ways  of 
pleasantness,  and  his  patbs  will  be  paths  of  peace.  Such  has 
been  the  experience  of  God's  faithful  people  in  all  ages. 
There  is  a  beautiful  allusion  to  the  devotedness  of  the 
patriarchs  to  God  by  the  apostle  Paul  in  his  epistle  to  the 
Hebrews.  In  referring  to  the  faith  of  the  ancient  saints,  he 
f=ays,  "These  all  died  in  faith,  not  having  received  the 
promises,  but  having  seen  them  afar  off  and  were  persuaded 
of  them,  and  embraced  them,  and  confessed  that  they  were 
strangers  and  pilgrims  on  the  earth.  For  they  that  say  such 
things  declare  plainly  that  they  seek  a  country.  And  truly, 
if  they  had  been  mindful  of  that  country  whence  they  came 
they  might  have  had  opportunity  to  have  returned.  But 
now  they  desire  a  better  country,  that  is  a  heavenly;  where- 
fore, God  is  not  ashamed  to  be  called  their  God,  for  he  has 
prepared  for  them  a  city."  (Heb.  11 :  13-16.)  The  thought 
in  the  passage  quoted  to  which  we  call  your  special  atten- 
tion, is  the  thought  that  "had  they  been  mindful  of  the 
country  from  which  they  came  out,  they  might  have  had 
opportunity  to  have  returned."  That  is,  had  they  had  their 
minds  fixed  on  the  country  that  they  had  left,  like  the  unfaith- 
ful Israelites  had  their  minds  fixed  on  the  land  of  Egypt,  they 
could  have  returned  to  the  country  they  had  left.  They  had 
left  Ur  of  Chaldea  for  the  promised  land  of  Canaan,  They 
had  not  been  driven  out  of  Chaldea,  and  it  is  not  probable 
that  God  would  have  so  interfered  as  to  prevent  their 
return  had  they  wished  to  return.  But  they  had  no 
desire  whatever  to  return.  When  Abraham  sent  his 
servant   to  his   fatherland   for   a  wife   for    his    son   Isaac, 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTER.  225 

the  servant  said,  "  Peradventure  the  woman  will  not  be 
willing  to  follow  me  unto  this  land ;  must  I  needs  bring  thy 
son  again  unto  the  land  from  whence  thou  camest?  And 
Abraham  said  unto  him,  beware  thou  that  thou  bring  not 
my*  son  thither  again."  (Gen.  24:  5-6.)  God  had  called 
Abraham  to  leave  his  native  land  and  friends,  to  go  out,  as 
Paul  says,  "into  a  place  which  he  should  after  receive  for  an 
inheritance,"  and  he  "  obej^ed,  and  he  went  out,  not  know- 
ing whither  he  went.  By  faith  he  sojourned  in  the  land  of 
promise,  as  in  a  strange  country,  dwelling  in  tabernacles 
with  Isaac  and  Jacob,  heirs  with  him  of  the  same  promise.'' 
(Heb  .11:  8-9.) 

Although  those  ancient  fathers  could  have  returned  to 
the  land  they  had  been  called  to  leave,  they  did  not  do  so. 
The  will  of  God  had  been  revealed  to  them,  and  that  will 
they  loved  to  obey .  They  looked  forward  and  not  backward. 
The  motto  of  the  faithful  is  "  Onward."  And  their  course  is 
upward.  "We  are  not  of  them  who  draw  back  unto  per- 
dition ;  but  of  them  that  believe  to  the  saving  of  the  soul." 
(Heb.  10  :  39.)  So  affirms  Paul.  It  is  noticed  not  to  the  honor, 
but  to  the  disgrace  of  some  of  the  early  believers  that  they  had 
left  their  first  love.  (Rev.  2. :  4.)  They  had  not  their  ear  bored 
to  live  in  their  Heavenly  Master's  house  forever.  They 
apparently  became  weary  in  well  doing.  Their  service  to 
God  was  not  the  service  of  love,  or  they  would  have  con- 
tinued in  it.  It  is  strange,  indeed,  that  any  should,  after 
they  have  seen  the  exceeding  sinfulness  of  sin,  and  tiie  ter- 
rible end  of  the  sinner,  and  experienced  the  joy  of  pardon, 
and  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  go  back  to  a  sinful  life. 
While  we  believe  it  is  possible  for  a  soul  that  is  converted  to 
fall  away,  we  believe  it  is  barely  possible,  and  that  it  seldom 
occurs.  A  large  proportion  of  those  looked  upon  as  back- 
sliders were  never  converted.  Those  who  are  really  con- 
verted, and  who  have  enjoyed  the  divine  comforts  of  the 


226  SERMONS    OF 

Holy  Spirit,  and  who  have  taken  a  place  in  Grod's  house,  and 
who  have  had  their  ears  bored,  and  from  the  love  the}''  have 
felt  to  God  have  pledged  themselves  to  serve  Him  forever, 
do  not  often  go  back,  for  they  know  to  go  back  is  to  go  back 
to  destruction. 

We  will  give  you  another  case  that  illustrates  the  joyful 
feeling  with  which  the  service  of  God  should  be  pursued  ; 
and  wlien  it  is  so  pursued  it  will  be  a  service  of  love.  It  is 
the  Lord's  address  to  Israel.  "  If  thou  turn  away  thy  foot 
from  the  Sabbath,  from  doing  th}^  pleasure  on  my  holy  day, 
and  call  the  Sabbath  a  delight,  the  body  of  the  Lord  hon- 
orable, and  shalt  honor  Him,  not  doing  thine  own  ways,  nor 
finding  thine  own  pleasure,  nor  speaking  thine  own  words  ; 
then  shalt  thou  delight  thyself  in  the  Lord,  and  I  will  cause 
thee  to  ride  upon  the  high  places  of  the  earth,  and  feed  thee 
with  the  hermitage  of  Jacob,  thy  father,  for  the  mouth  of 
the  Lord  hath  spoken  it."  (Isaiah  58  :  13,  14.)  They  were 
to  call  the  Sabbath  a  "delight."  They  were  to  spend 
it  in  such  a  way  as  would  make  it  a  delight  to  them. 
It  was  intended  by  the  Lord  to  be  a  delight  to  His 
people,  as  it  was  designed  to  be  a  blessing  to  them.  But  to 
make  it  a  blessing,  or  to  spend  it  as  was  necessary  to  obtain 
the  blessings  of  God  upon  them,  it  was  necessary  that  they 
should  spend  it  to  the  honor  of  God,  and  not  consult  their 
own  pleasure,  or  rather  their  carnal  pleasure.  For  their  own 
pleasure,  and  their  highest  pleasure,  would  have  been  pi'o- 
moted  had  they  used  it  as  God  designed;  for  then  it  would 
have  been  a  delight  to  them,  and  if  a  delight,  of  course  a 
source  of  pleasure.  But  they  did  their  own  work  on  the 
Sabbath,  and  not  the  Lord's  work.  It  appears  that  six  days 
were  not  enougli  for  them  to  have  to  do  their  own  work; 
they  wanted  more  time  to  work  for  themselves.  This  is  too 
often  the  case ;  worldly  and  business  men  are  not  satisfied 
to  work  six  days  and  let  their  animals  and  employes  rest 


ELDER   JAMES   QUINTEB.  -  227 

one  day  in  the  week.  They  occupy  all  the  week,  the  seven 
days,  in  business  and  work  of  a  worldly  character,  and  thus 
rob  God  and  themselves.  But  God  admonishes  his  people 
to  turn  their  feet  from  the  Sabbath ;  that  is,  from  doing  their 
own  work,  and  from  seeking  their  own  pleasure  of  a  sec- 
ular character,  and  to  take  delight  in  doing  his  work,  and 
in  spending  the  day  as  he  had  willed  it  to  be  spent. 
They  were  to  call  "the  Sabbath  a  delight,  the  holy  of 
the  Lord."  They  probably  called  it  a  dull  day  when 
they  had  to  use  it  for  divine  worship,  because  they 
realized  no  spiritual  enjoyment  in  holy  worship.  The  sanc- 
tuary of  God  is  a  prison  to  some,  and  the  Sabbath  confined 
to  worship  a  burden.  Some  people  do  not  apparently  like 
God's  arrangement  in  requiring  us  to  spend  one  day  in  his 
worship  and  in  cultivating  our  hearts  in  holiness.  We  sup- 
pose there  may  be  some  people  so  desperately  wicked  that 
that  they  would  like  to  see  the  Sabbath  abolished  and  meet- 
ing houses  destroyed.  They  would  then  not  be  so  much 
reproved,  and  they  could  indulge  in  their  sinful  ways  with- 
out any  restraint.  But  we  hope  that  this  is  not  the  case 
with  any  of  you  in  this  congregation.  You  would  not  wish 
to  see  the  Sabbath  abolished  or  public  worship  discontinued. 
These  are  great  promoters  of  the  welfare  of  society.  To 
remove  all  restraints  from  the  wicked,  and  permit  them 
without  any  restraint  to  indulge  in  their  sinful  desires 
and  habits,  would  be  to  expose  society  to  a  most  terrible 
affliction. 

And  who  is  there  among  you  here  to-day  that  would 
wish  to  see  any  part  of  the  divine  law  stricken  from  the 
Bible  ?  We  hope  there  are  none.  It  is  all  good  and  useful, 
and  designed  to  promote  the  highest  and  best  interests  of 
men.  Our  corrupt  nature  may  sometimes  rebel  against 
some  of  the  req^uirements  of  the  divine  law,  but  when  we 
consider  its  origin  and  its  character,  that  it  is  from  God,  and 


228  '  SERMONS   OF 

that  it  is  a  "perfect  law  of  liberty,"  our  judgments  must 
approve  of  it,  however  our  fallen  nature  may  rebel  against 
it.  We  hav.e  said,  we  presume  that  none  of  you  would 
want  any  thing  taken  from  the  divine  law.  Would  it  not 
strike  us  as  a  most  wicked  act  to  expunge  any  thing  from 
God's  law?  And  would  we  not  think  that  the  rig-ht  hand 
should  be  "cutoff"  rather  than  commit  such  an  act?  Well, 
that  is  right.  We  should  have  the  most  profound  respect 
and  reverence  for  the  law  of  God.  But  do  you,  my  friends, 
perceive  the  predicament  you  are  in  ?  By  entertaining  the 
correct  views  of  the  divine  law  that  we  have  attributed  to 
you,  and  then  fail  to  obey  that  law,  you  condemn  your- 
selves. Consistency  would  require  of  you  to  obey,  without 
hesitation  or  delay,  a  law  so  high  in  authority  and  so  perfect 
in  its  character,  as  you  admit  the  law  of  God  to  be. 

But  while  the  carnal  mind  is  enmity  against  God  and  not 
subject  to  his  law,  those  who  have  been  renewed  in  the 
spirit  of  their  minds  can  say  with  Paul,  "I  delight  in  the 
law  of  God  after  the  inward  man." — Rom.  vii.  22.  And 
when  we  thus  delight  in  the  law  of  God,  we  will  find  that 
"his  commandments  are  not  grievous." — 1  John  v.  3. 
Then  will  our  service  be  the  service  of  love — that  service  that 
is  rendered  to  God  by  all  holy  beings.  And  while  it  will  be 
acceptable  to  God,  and  in  his  sight  of  great  price,  it  will  be 
a  pleasure  to  us  to  perform  such  service.  It  is  to  suc^^  ser- 
vants of  God  as  have,  in  spirit,  had  their  ears  bored  accord- 
ing to  the  text,  and  who  love  their  master,  and  who  feel 
that  they  will  never  go  out  of  his  service,  that  the  Saviour's 
yoke  is  easy  and  his  burden  light.  The  bearing  of  that  yoke 
and  that  burden  with  pleasure  and  in  love  will  make  it  easy 
and  light. 

Looking,  then,  at  the  service  of  God  as  a  service  of  love, 
it  unites  pleasure  with  duty,and  makes  a  holy  life  not  a  life 
of  bondage,  dread  and  gloom,  but  a  life  of  freedom,  joy  and 
peace. 


ELDER   JAMES   QUINTEK.  229 

XYJII. 

THE  KNOWLEDGE  OF  BELIEVERS  A  PROTECTION 
FROM  ERROR. 

"  But  ye  have  an  unction  from  the  Holy  One,  and  ye 
know  all  things."— I.  John  2 :  20. 

The  following  disposition  of  the  text  may  be  made: 

I.  The  Holy  One  from  whom  the  unction  is  received. 

II.  The  unction  itself. 

III.  The  knowledge  obtained  from  the  unction. 

I.  The  Holy  One  from  whom  the  unction  is  received. 
This  is  a  very  suggestive  and  honorable  title  given  to  our 
Redeemer,  for  it  is  to  him  that  it  is  to  be  applied.  It  is  true 
some  commentators  apply  it  to  the  Holy  Spirit.  But  as  it 
is  with  the  Holy  Spirit  itself,  we  are  represented  as  being 
anointed,  when  the  same  is  referred  to  as  it  is  here,  and  in 
the  manner  in  which  it  is,  the  Holy  One  most  likely  refers 
to  Christ.  And  while  it  is  an  expressive  name  applied  to 
him,  he  is  well  deserving  of  all  that  is  expressed  in  it.  He 
is  spoken  of  by  Paul  as  follows.  "  For  such  a  high  priest 
became  us,  who  is  holy,  harmless,  undefiled,  separate  from 
sinners,  and  made  higher  than  the  heavens;  who  needeth 
not  daily,  as  those  high  priests,  to  offer  up  sacrifice,  first  for 
his  own  sins,  and  then  for  the  people's:  for  this  he  did  once 
when  he  offered  up  himself." — Heb.  7:  26,  27.  And  the 
devil  acknowledged  his  holiness  when  he  said :  "  I  know 
thee  who  thou  art,  the  Holy  One  of  God." — Mark  1 :  2'4- 
He  was  holy  in  his  nature  and  in  all  his  conduct.  He  was 
closely  watched,  and  that  too  by  his  enemies  who  enter- 
tained the  strongest  prejudice  against  him,  and  who  sought 
eagerly  some  failure  in  his  life  that  they  might  find  some 
excuse  for  their  opposition  to  him,  and  something  upon 
which  they  might  condemn  him.  But  from  the  fact  that 
Pilate,  after  his  enemies  had  done  all  they  could  to  find 


230  SERMONS    OF 

some  cause  for  his  condemnation,  declared  "  to  the  chief 
priests  and  to  the  people,  I  find  no  fault  in  this  man," 
Luke  23  :  4,  it  follows  that  his  life  had  been  a  spotless  one, 
or  the  contrary  would  have  been  proved,  as  his  enemies 
were  so  anxious  to  find  something  against  him.  And  the 
wretched  Judas  witli  his  intimate  acquaintance  with  Christ 
after  he  had  sold  him  and  betrayed  him,  "  brought  again 
the  thirty  pieces  of  silver  to  the  chief  priests  and  elders, 
saying,  I  have  sinned  in  that  I  have  betrayed  the  innocent 
blood."— Matt.  27 :  3,  4.     He  was  indeed  the  Holy  One. 

And  the  perfect  holiness  of  our  Lord  is  one  of  the  attri- 
butes that  fit  him  for  the  great  work  he  came  to  accom- 
plish. He  came  to  call  sinners  to  repentance.  And  as  we 
sinners  whom  he  came  to  save  had  no  holiness  in  us,  but 
''  all  our  righteousnesses  are  as  filthy  rags  "  (Isaiah  64 :  6), 
it  was  necessary  that  he  who  undertook  our  salvation 
should  have  no  sin  in  him.  A  Holy  Saviour  is  needed  to 
save  unholy  men.  Such  a  Saviour  we  have  in  Christ,  who 
saves  "his  people  from  their  sins." — Matt.  1 :  21.  And  how 
unsuitable  are  unholy  members  to  belong  to  a  body  which 
has  such  a  holy  head  as  the  Hol}"^  One!  And  justly  does 
the  apostle  Peter  reason  when  he  thus  writes  to  his  Chris- 
tian brethren :  "  But  as  he  which  hath  called  you  is  holy,  so 
be  ye  holy  in  all  manner  of  conversation ;  because  it  is 
written,  be  ye  holy;  for  I  am  holy !  " — I.  Peter  1 :  15, 10. 

IL  The  unction  itself.  Reference  is  here  made  to  the 
practice  of  anointing  with  oil,  or  with  the  ointment  used  in 
the  religious  services  of  the  Jews.  Much  use  was  made  of 
ointment  in  the  various  ceremonies  of  the  Jews.  There  was 
a  special  ointment  prepared  for  religious  purposes.  The 
ingredients  of  which  it  was  composed  and  the  manner  of 
preparing  it  were  given  to  Moses  by  the  Lord.  This  was 
the  "  holy  anointing  oil."  The  people  were  forbidden  to 
make  anything  like  it  for  common  use.    Exodus  30. 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTER.  231 

The  more  special  use  of  anointing  with  oil  is  for  the  con- 
secration or  setting  persons  apart  for  some  important  or  holy 
office.  There  were  special  offices  for  which  the  persons  who 
entered  into  them  were  anointed :  1.  The  king  was  anointed 
when  he  entered  upon  his  office.  Samuel  was  sent  by  the 
Lord  to  anoint  Saul  king  over  Israel.  I.  Sam.  15  : 1.  And 
Elijah  was  directed  to  anoint  Elisha  to  be  a  prophet.  I. 
Kings  19 :  16.  And  Moses  was  commanded  to  anoint  Aaron 
and  his  sons  for  the  priest's  office.  Ex.  28 :  41.  Besides 
persons,  things  also  that  were  used  in  the  service  of  the 
Lord  were  anointed.  Ex.,  30th  chapter.  Now,  as  the 
anointing  oil  was  used  in  setting  apart  persons  and  things 
for  the  holy  service  of  God,  and  as  Christians  are  kings  and 
priests,  and  prophets  too,  as  they  are  to  understand  and 
teach  the  ways  of  the  Lord  to  others,  so  they  are  to  be 
anointed.  But  the  anointing  or  unction  that  is  to  be 
applied  to  Christians  in  setting  them  apart  for  the  holy  ser- 
vice that  they  are  to  perform  in  the  house  of  God  is  not  the 
anointing  of  the  apothecary  under  the  former  or  Jewish  dis- 
pensation. That  anointing  with  the  other  ceremonies  of 
that  dispensation  was  typical  of  the  ceremonies  and  services 
of  the  Christian  Church.  The  holy  oil  used  in  the  anointing 
under  the  law  of  Moses  was  typical  of  the  unction  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  with  which  Christians  are  anointed  under  the 
Christian  dispensation.  Christ,  the  head  of  the  church,  was 
himself  anointed,  not  with  oil,  but  with  what  the  oil  was  a 
type  of,  namely,  with  the  Holy  Spirit.  Peter,  in  his  preach- 
ing to  Cornelius,  declared,  "  How  God  anointed  Jesus  of 
Nazareth  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and  with  power ;  who  went 
about  doing  good  and  healing  all  that  were  oppressed  with 
the  devil ;  for  God  was  with  him." — Acts  10  :  38.  Here  the 
Christian  anointing  is  explained,  and  we  learn  that  it  is  the 
Holy  Spirit.  Paul  thus  refers  to  it :  "  Now  he  which  stab- 
lisheth  us  with  you  in  Christ,  and  hath  anointed  us,  is  God ; 


232  SERMONS   OF 

who  hath  also  sealed  us  and  given  the  earnest  of  the  spirit 
in  our  hearts." — II.  Cor.  1 :  21,  22.  This  anointing  is  the 
unction  referred  to  by  John  in  our  text.  And  it  is  said  we 
have  this  "  unction  from  the  Holy  One."  We  have  seen 
that  the  "Hol}'^  One"  from  whom  the  unction  comes,  is 
Christ.  And  we  have  seen  that  Christ  was  anointed  with 
the  Holy  Spirit.  And  while  this  anointing,  which  he 
received  in  his  baptism,  prepared  him  for  the  office  of 
prophet,  and  of  priest,  and  of  king,  which  he  was  to  fill,  it 
does  the  same  to  all  his  members.  And  as  "  the  precious 
ointment  upon  the  head,  that  ran  down  upon  the  beard, 
even  Aaron's  beard :  that  went  down  to  the  skirts  of  his 
garment,"  Ps.  133:2,  so  does  the  unction  from  "the  Holy 
One"  flow  down  to  all  the  members  of  his  body,  which  is 
the  Church,  even  to  the  least. 

III.  The  knowledge  obtained  from  the  unction: 
"  And  ye  know  all  things."  This  implies  a  great  deal — 
too  much  to  be  applied  to  human  attainments  in  knowledge 
in  this  Ufe,  when  even  Paul,  though  the  chief  of  apostles,  and 
inspired,  only  knew  "  in  part."  I.  Cor.  13  :  12.  We  must 
therefore  by  the  help  of  other  passages  of  Scripture 
explain  this  phrase  ""all  things,"  which  at  first  reading 
would  appear  to  embrace  universal  knowledge.  We  must 
remember  in  explaining  Scripture,  that  it  is  to  be  taken  as  a 
whole,  and  that  one  part  is  to  be  explained  by  another. 

1.  Then  instead  of  appl3nng  the  phrase  "all  things  "  to 
all  kinds  of  knowledge,  we  are  to  limit  it  more  particularly 
to  religious  tilings,  or  to  what  Jesus  meant  when  he  said  to 
his  disciples,  "And  ye  shall  know  the  truth." — John  8:  32. 
It  is  divine  knowledge  or  a  knowledge  of  divine  or  holy 
things,  that  knowledge  that  will  make  us  "  wise  unto  salva- 
tion," that  we  are  most  interested  in,  and  that  we  should 
seek  as  we  "  seek  for  hidden  treasure." 

2,  It   is   the   things  that  are  revealed  that  Christians 


ELDER   JAMES   QUINTER.  233 

may  know.  The  number  and  extent  of  things  of  a  divine 
character  are  very  great.  "  O  the  depth  of  the  riches  both 
of  the  wisdom  and  the  knowledge  of  God  !  how  unsearchable 
are  his  judgments,  and  his  ways  past  finding  out." — Rom. 
11 :  33.  God  has  not  yet  revealed  all  his  plans  and  purposes 
to  man,  as  is  plainly  implied  in  the  following  language  of 
Moses  :  "  The  secret  things  belong  unto  the  Lord  our  God  ; 
but  those  things  which  are  revealed  belong  unto  us  and  to 
our  children  forever,  that  we  may  do  all  the  words  of  this 
law." — Deut.  29 :  29.  Here  we  find  that  God  has  reserved 
some  things  to  himself  which  he  has  not  revealed.  And 
when  John  the  revelator  was  receiving  revelations  from 
God  concerning  his  plans  and  purposes,  he  informs  us  that 
when  an  angel  which  he  saw,  "cried  with  a  loud  voice, 
seven  thunders  uttered  their  voices."  And  when  he  heard 
the  seven  thunders  utter  their  voices,  he  was  about  to  write 
the  import  of  those  voices,  but  he  was  directed  to  seal  up 
what  the  thunders  uttered. — Rev.  10  :  3,  4.  What  those 
thunders  uttered,  we  may  have  opportunity  hereafter  of 
knowing,  but  they  are  yet  sealed  up.  And  it  is  encouraging 
and  cheering  to  us  to  know  that  there  is  so  much  of  God 
and  his  works  to  be  learned,  that  this  life  is  too  short  for  us 
to  learn  them,  and  that  we  shall  learn  in  the  future  world 
as  well  as  in  this.  And  the  more  we  learn  of  God,  the  more 
will  we  adore  and  admire  him  "  for  his  wonderful  works  to 
the  children  of  men." — Ps.  107 :  8.  In  reference  to  the 
vastness  and  number  of  the  themes  presented  to  man  for 
study  in  God's  works  of  creation  and  redemption.  Dr.  Young 
has  justly  said, 

"  Were  man  to  live  coeval  with  the  Sun, 
The  patriarch-pupil  would  be  learning  still, 
Yet,  dying,  leave  his  lesson  half  unlearn'd." 

3.  But  while  all  things  that  are  repealed  may  be  known 
by  diligent,  persevering  and  humble  study,  with  the  unction 
from  the  Holy  One  which  the  Christian  has,  yet   but  few 


234  SERMONS   OF 

Christians  make  the  proficiency  they  might  do  in  the  study 
of  divine  things.  And  when  it  is  said  in  our  text,  "  Ye  know 
all  things,"  we  may  apply  the  words  to  what  must  be  known 
to  make  us  Christians,  and  to  give  us  a  saving  interest  in 
Christ.  There  are  some  things  which  all  Christians  must 
know,  and  which  all  Christians  do  know.  All  know  that 
they  were  once  sinners.  All  know  that  Christ  died  for  sin- 
ners, and  til  at  he  is  the  only  Saviour.  They  all  know  that 
they  must  come  to  him  and  believe  on  him.  They  all  know 
that  whosoever  would  be  his  disciples,  must  take  up  their 
cross  and  follow  him.  All  should  be  so  familiar  with  Christ 
and  his  truth,  that  they  can  not  be  deceived  by  any  that 
would  deceive  them.  In  the  parable  of  the  good  shepherd, 
Jesus  thus  speaks  of  himself  as  the  shepherd,  and  his  disci- 
ples as  the  sheep  :  "  And  when  he  putteth  forth  his  own 
sheep,  he  goeth  before  them,  and  the  sheep  follow  him ;  for 
they  know  his  voice.  And  a  stranger  will  they  not  follow, 
but  will  flee  from  him ;  for  they  know  not  the  voice  of  strang- 
ers."— John  10  :  4,  5.  This  familiarity  with  Christ,  and  this 
experimental  knowledge  of  his  word,  opened  and  applied  by 
the  unction  from  the  Holy  One,  is  what  will  prove  the 
effectual  protection  from  all  the  errors  of  antichrists.  And 
it  was  this  that  the  apostle  wanted  his  brethren  to  under- 
stand, namely,  that  if  they  would  avail  themselves  of  the 
knowledge  the  unction  from  the  Holy  One  afforded  them, 
the  antichrists,  however  many,  and  however  hostile  to 
Christ  they  might  be,  could  not  deceive  nor  injure  them. 

What  a  glorious  thing  it  is  to  be  a  Christian,  and  to  be 
spiritually  anointed  with  the  heavenly  unction  from  the 
'  Holy  One,"  and  to  know  all  things  that  is  necessar}^  to 
know  to  enable  us  to  shun  the  errors  and  wicked  ways  of 
the  world,  and  to  secure  an  "inheritance  among  them  that 
are  sanctified."  If  we  are  anointed  with  the  heavenly 
unction,  or  Holy  Spirit,  we  will  not  only  be  wise  to  know, 


ELDER   JAMES   QUINTEK.  235 

but  we  shall  also  be  strong  to  suffer  and  do,  "  for  God  hath 
not  given  us  the  spirit  of  fear ;  but  of  power,  and  of  love, 
and  of  a  sound  mind." — 2  Tim.  1  :  7.  Happy  are  those  of 
whom  it  can  be  said,  "  Ye  have  an  unction  from  the  Holy 
One,  and  ye  know  all  things." 


XIX. 
CHRIST  OUK  ADTOCATE. 

"  My  little  children,  these  things  write  I  unto  you,  that 
ye  sin  not.  And  if  any  man  sin,  we  have  an  advocate  with 
the  Father,  Jesus  Christ,  the  righteous;  and  he  is  the  pro- 
pitiation for  our  sins;  and  not  for  ours  only,  but  for  the  sins 
of  the  whole  world." — 1  John  2: 1,  2. 

What  tender  parental  expressions  we  have  here  from  this 
aged  saint  of  God.  "  M.y  little  children."  How  strong  was 
his  affection  for  his  brethren!  And  what  a  noble  object 
prompted  him  to  write :  "  These  things  write  I  unto  you 
that  ye  sin  not."  But  he  would  encouragingly  say  to  them, 
"  If  any  one  among  you  sin  after  all  that  has  been  done  to 
keep  you  from  committing  sin,  I  would  not  have  you  dis- 
couraged. We  have  an  advocate  with  the  Father,  Jesus 
Christ,  the  righteous." 

The  word  advocate,  in  its  primary  sense,  means  one  who 
pleads  the  cause  of  another  in  our  courts  of  civil  law.  But 
it  is  applied  to  one  who  pleads  the  cause  of  another  before 
any  tribunal.  In  American  and  English  courts,  advocates 
are  the  same  as  counselors  or  lawyers.  In  the  scriptures,  as 
in  our  text,  Christ  is  called  an  advocate  for  his  people.  The 
term  advocate  is  here  used  in  the  sense  of  a  helper,  thouo-h 
the  idea  of  a  pleader  is  contained  in  it.  This  character  is 
frequently  applied  to  Christ  as  in  Heb.  7  :  25  :  "  Wherefore 


236  SERMON    OF 

he  is  able  also  to  save  them  to  the  uttermost  that  come  unto 
God  by  him,  seeing  he  ever  liveth  to  make  intercession  for 
them."  "  And  he  bore  the  sins  of  man}^,  and  made  inter- 
cession for  the  transgressors."     (Isaiah  53  :  12.) 

According  to  the  usages  of  the  English  law,  every  person 
tried  for  the  violation  of  the  law  has  the  privilege  of  an 
advocate  or  counselor  to  advocate  his  cause,  that  justice  may 
be.  done  to  him.  ]S"ow  the  advocacy  of  Christ  for  us  is  not 
so  much  that  justice  may  be  done  us,  as  that  we  may  be 
justified,  or  that  we  may  be  lawfully  acquitted  as  criminals 
or  transgressors  of  the  divine  law. 

1.  Christ  as  our  advocate  or  intercessor,  differs  from  the 
ordinary  pleading  of  lawyers  or  advocates  for  criminals. 
These  try  to  have  their  clients  acquitted  on  the  ground  that 
the  charge  against  them  is  false  ;  or  if  not  altogether  false, 
mitigated  by  circumstances,  so  that  there  is  nothing  very 
wrong  in  it.  If  some  person  in  our  country  commits  a 
crime,  and  he  employs  a  lawyer  to  conduct  his  trial,  and  to 
defend  him,  he  will  summon  witnesses  and  adduce  testimony 
and  plead  before  the  court  to  show  that  his  client  is  not 
guilty  of  the  charge.  Or,  if  the  charge  in  the  main  is  true, 
he  will  endeavor  to  show  thatthere  are  extenuating  circum- 
stances connected  with  the  case,  which  greatly  diminish  the 
guilt,  if  there  is  guilt,  connected  with  the  act. 

But  Christ,  our  advocate,  who  pleads  for  us  when  we 
commit  our  cases  into  his  hand,  makes  no  attempt  to 
prove  that  we  are  innocent,  or  that  our  guilt  is  any  less 
than  what  it  appears  to  be.  He  accepts  the  case  in  its  true 
condition  and  acknowledges  his  clients  to  be  guilty  of  all 
that  they  are  charged  with  in  the  divine  law.  But,  never- 
theless, he  asks  for  their  acquittal  or  justification,  not  on  the 
ground  of  their  innocence,  or  of  any  extenuating  circum- 
stances connected  with  the  case,  but  on  the  grounds  that  he 
has  suffered  for  penitent  and  believing  sinners,  and  in  their 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTER.  237 

stead.  "  Surely  he  hath  borne  our  griefs  and  carried  our 
sorrows;  yet  we  did  esteem  him  stricken,  smitten  of  God, 
and  afflicted.  But  he  was  wounded  for  our  transgressions  ; 
he  was  bruised  for  our  iniquities.  The  chastisement  of  our 
peace  was  upon  him,  and  with  his  stripes  we  are  healed.  All 
we  like  sheep  have  gone  astray;  we  have  turned  every  one  to 
his  own  way ;  and  the  Lord  hath  laid  on  him  the  iniquity  of 
us  all."  (Isaiah  53  :  4-6.)  "  Christ  was  once  offered  to  bear 
the  sins  of  many.  "  (Heb.  9  :  28.)  "  Who  his  own  self  bore 
our  own  sins  in  his  own  body  on  the  tree,  that  we,  being 
dead  to  sin,  should  live  unto  righteousness:  by  whose  stripes 
ye  w^ere  healed."  (I.  Peter  2  :  24.)  Thus  on  the  grounds  of 
the  atonement  and  satisfaction  which  our  Advocate  has 
made  for  us,  does  he  obtain  our  freedom  from  the  curse  and 
the  penalty  of  the  divine  law.  And  not  only  does  he  free  us 
from  the  penalty  of  the  law,  but  he  makes  us  righteous  by  his 
righteousness,  and  thus  are  we  justified.  "  Therefore,  being 
justified  by  faith,  we  have  peace  with  God,  through  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ."  (Roman  5:  1.)  "Much  more  then, 
being  now  justified  by  his  blood,  we  shall  be  saved  from 
wrath  through  him."  (Rom.  5:9.)  "  But  of  him  are  ye 
in  Christ  Jesus,  who  of  God  is  made  unto  us  wisdom  and 
righteousness,  and  sanctification  and  redemption  that,  accord- 
ing as  it  is  written,  he  that  glorieth,  let  him  glory  in  the 
Lord."  (I.  Cor,  1 :  30,  31.)  Then  the  believing  sinner  is 
justified  and  made  righteous  by  our  advocate  himself.  And 
our  advocate  pleads  his  own  work  as  the  grounds  of  the 
believer's  acquittal.  There  is  no  occasion  for  one  who  has 
given  himself  into  the  hands  of  Christ  to  seek  to  cover,  or 
to  extenuate  his  guilt,  for  it  matters  not  how  great  a  sinner 
he  has  been,  he  will  find  pardon.  "  But  if  we  walk  in  the 
light,  as  he  is  in  the  light,  we  have  fellowship  one  with 
another,  and  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  his  son,  cleanseth  us 
from  all   sin."     (I    John  1  :  T.)      Our   high    Priest,  Inter- 


238  SERMONS    OF 

cesser,  and  Advocate,  accepts  the  charge  against  his  clients 
in  all  its  fullness,  or  the  bill  that  has  been  found  against 
them  with  all  its  indictments  in  it.  There  is  nothing  left 
out,  there  is  nothing  extenuated.  He  answers  for  all  the 
guilt  that  is  found  to  rest  upon  his  guilty  clients,  their  sins 
having  been  borne  by  him,  and  his  righteousness  having 
been  imparted  to  them. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  fact  that  no  sinner  has  any 
occasion  whatever  to  cover,  deny,  or  extenuate  his  guilt,  we 
refer  to  the  case  of  the  apostle  Paul.  He  calls  himself  the 
chief  of  sinners.  (I.  Tim.  1 :  15.)  The  greater  the  guilt  the 
greater  the  pardon;  and  the  greater  the  pardon  the  greater 
is  the  honor  to  which  our  Advocate  or  High  Priest  is  enti- 
tled. "Where  sin  abounded, grace  did  much  more  abound." 
(Roman  5  :  20.)  This  doctrine  of  the  advocacy  of  Christ  for 
sinners,  and  their  full  salvation  through  him,  is  a  glorious 
doctrine,  and  replete  with  comfort  to  the  guilty  and  pen- 
itent sinner.  There  is  nothing  to  produce  fear,  and  if  pos- 
sible, still  less  to  produce  despair,  but  much  to  produce  faith 
and  hope. 

2.  In  view  of  what  we  have  said  in  regard  to  the  advo 
cacy  of  Christ,  we  may  now  take  a  view  of  the  relation  that 
Christ's  redemptive  work  stands  in  to  the  believer.  It  has 
sometimes  been  insinuated  and  pretty  plainly  declared  that 
the  gospel  view  of  God's  method  of  pardoning  sinners  is 
calculated  to  lessen  the  enormity  of  crime.  It  has  been 
said  that  because  the  guilty  sinner,  upon  his  confession  of 
his  guilt,  and  application  to  God  in  the  way  the  gospel 
directs,  can  obtain  forgiveness  in  a  very  easy  way,  with  but 
little  or  no  punishment  whatever  for  the  crime  or  crimes 
which  he  had  committed,  that  this  method  of  dealing  with 
sin  detracts  from  its  enormity,  as  he  can  repeat  the  crime 
and  again  obtain  forgiveness  in  the  same  easy  way.  The 
idea  is  that  because  pardon  can  be  so  easily  obtained,  it  en- 


ELDER  JAMES  QUINTEE.  239 

courages  sin.  It  is  implied  in  the  language  of  those  who 
made  this  objection  to  the  gospel  plan  of  pardoning  sin,  that 
if  the  sinner  would  have  to  suffer  more  punishment  for  hi« 
crimes,  sin  would  become  a  greater  terror  to  men.  But  as 
God  will  pardon  sin  in  the  wa}'  he  does,  it  is  thought,  or  at 
least  insinuated,  that  his  easy  way  of  dealing  with  sinners  is 
calculated  to  encourage  sin  under  the  system  of  govei'nment 
by  which  he  governs  the  world. 

It  is  argued  by  those  who  are  in  favor  of  capital  punish- 
ment that  the  life  of  the  murderer  should  be  taken  to  make 
him  an  example  to  others  to  make  them  fear  and  to  deter 
them  from  doing  the  like  wicked  deed  ;  and  if  ihey  are  not 
thus  severely  dealt  with,  murder  will  not  be  looked  at  as  so 
criminal,  and  therefore  increase.  And  in  the  same  way  it  is 
argued  that  other  criminals  must  be  kept  in  confinement  to 
prevent  them  from  injuring  society.  So  it  has  been  thought 
by  some  that  God's  method  of  pardoning  sinners  is  calcu- 
lated to  lessen  the  enormity  of  sin  because  forgiveness  is  so 
freely  offered  by  him  and  so  easily  obtained  by  the  evildoer. 

But  if  the  principles  of  God's  government  in  relation  to 
the  pardoning  of  sinners  are  properly  understood,  the  forego- 
ing objections  will  liave  but  little  weight  and  not  much  ap- 
plication to  the  subject  to  which  they  are  designed  to  apply. 
1.  It  should  be  remembered  that  according  to  the  scripture 
Christ  was  made  an  offering  for  sin,  and  that  he  died  for 
sinners.  "  For  he  hath  made  him  to  be  sin  for  us,  who  knew 
no  sin ;  that  we  might  be  made  the  righteousness  of  God  in 
him."  (II.  Cor.  5  :  21).  In  the  foregoing  words,  where  it  is 
said  Christ  was  made  sin  for  us,  the  meaning  is,  he  was 
made  an  offering  for  sin.  Then,  according  to  the  principles 
of  God'seconomyof  grace  for  saving  sinners,they  could  not  be 
saved  without  an  offering  or  sacrifice  for  sin  was  made  to 
God.  Such  an  offering  was  made  by  Christ  when  he  offered 
himself  to  God,  "  a  lamb  without  blemish  and  without  spot." 


240  SERMONS    OF 

(I.  Peter  1 :  19.)  And  this  idea  is  contained  in  our  text: 
"  And  he  is  the  propitiation  for  our  sins :  and  not  for  ours 
only,  but  also  for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world."  Propitiation 
here  means  the  atonement  or  atoning  sacrifice  which 
removes  the  obstacle  and  prepares  the  way  for  man's  sal- 
vation.    And  Christ  is  this  propitiation. 

We  then  perceive  that  God's  method  of  pardoning  and 
saving  sinners  as  revealed  in  the  gospel,  does  not  make  sin  a 
small  offense  of  such  magnitude  that  no  sacrifice  less  than 
that  of  the  Son  of  God  could  atqne  for  it.  ''Forasmuch  as 
ye  know  that  ye  were  not  redeemed  with  corruptible  things, 
as  silver  and  gold,  from  your  vain  conversation  received  by 
tradition  from  your  father ;  but  with  the  precious  blood  of 
Christ."  (T.  Peter  1 :  18.)  God's  plan  of  saving  sinners,  in 
which  Christ's  suffering  and  death  constitute  a  prominent 
place,  does  not  only  exhibit  in  the  plainest  and  most 
impressive  manner  before  all  the  intelligences  of  the 
universe,  his  love  and  mercy,  but  it  also  shows  the  exceed- 
ing sinfulness  of  sin  and  God's  abhorrence  of  it  as  well. 
The  intense  suffering  of  our  Lord  in  Gethsemane,  and  his 
painful  and  excruciating  death  on  the  cross,  all  being 
endured  by  him  in  making  an  atonement  for  sin,  show 
clearly  that  sin  is  the  "  abominable  thing  which  God  hates." 
And  further,  let  it  be  remembered  that  the  sinner  in  a  true 
state  of  penitency,  experiences  a  painful  degree  of  remorse. 
And  if  after  he  has  obtained  pardon  he  returns  to  his  sins 
again,  his  latter  end  is  worse  than  was  the  beginning, 
(II.  Peter  2  :  20.)  And  consequently  should  he  again  repent, 
he  will  have  to  pass  through  a  more  severe  and  terrible  state 
of  remorse  than  he  did  at  the  first.  Such  being  the  way 
that  God  deals  with  smners,  and  such  being  the  conditions 
upon  which  he  pardons  sin,  there  is  surely  no  encourage- 
ment whatever  given  to  people  to  sin.  But  on  the  contrary, 
sin  in  the  scripture  being  made  ofi'ensive  to  God  and  injuri- 
ous to  men's  present  and  future  interests,  does  not  only 


ELDER  JAMES  QUINTER.  241 

offer  no  encouragement  to  indulge  in  it  ut  has  everything 
in  it  to  deter  men  from  committing  it. 

Finally,  how  completely  does  the  gospel  take  away  from 
sinners  all  excuses  for  sin.  "  We  have  an  advocate  with  the 
Father,  Jesus  Christ,  the  righteous."  And  though  the 
clients  for  whom  he  pleads  are  guilty,  his  own  righteousness 
is  freely  offered  them,  and  in  that  righteousness  they  will 
stand  justified.  He  has,  for  his  people,  brought  in  an  ever- 
lasting righteousness.  (Dan.  9  :  24.)  Upon  this  ground  he 
pleads  that  the  sins  of  sinners  may  not  be  laid  to  their 
charge.  And  this  plea  of  our  Advocate  will  be  accepted  by 
the  Judge,  and  because  of  our  partaking  of  Christ's  merits 
and  righteousness  we  will  be  released.  (2.)  And  while  we 
have  an  advocate  at  the  throne  of  heaven  to  plead  for  us 
with  the  Judge,  we  have  also  an  advocate  within  us,  accord- 
ing to  the  following  language  of  the  apostle:  ''  Likewise  the 
spirit  also  helpeth  our  infirmities  ;  for  we  know  not  what 
we  should  pray  for  as  we  ought ;  but  the  spirit  itself  maketh 
intercession  for  lis  with  groanings  which  cannot  be  uttered." 
(Roman  8  :  26.) 

In  view  then  of  all  that  has  been  done  for  us,  no  sinner 
need  be  lost,  none  need  despair.  And,  as  God  "  will  have 
all  men  to  be  saved  and  to  come  unto  the  knowledge  of  the 
truth"  (I.  Tim.  2  : 4),  he  has  made  ample  provision  to  save  all. 
And  while  it  is  the  will  of  God  that  all  men  may  be  saved, 
it  is  also  his  will  that  those  who  are  saved  shall  be  sanctified. 
"  My  little  children,  these  things  I  write  unto  you,  that  ye  sin 
not."  "  For  this  is  the  will  of  God,  even  your  sanctification, 
that  ye  should  abstain  from  fornication,  that  every  one  of 
you  should  know  how  to  possess  his  vessel  in  sanctification 
and  honor."  (I.  Thess.  4:3,  4.)  I  would,  in  view  of  the  fore- 
going encouragement,  say  :  "  Having,  therefore,  these  prom- 
ises, dearly  beloved,  let  us  cleanse  ourselves  from  all  filthi- 
ness  of  the  flesh  and  spirit,  perfecting  holiness  in  the  fear 
of  God.     (II.  Cor.  7: 1.) 


242  SERMONS    OF 

XX. 

THE  YALUE  OF  A  TEACHABLE  SPIRIT. 

''  As  an  ear  ring  of  gold,  and  an  ornament  of  fine  gold, 
so  is  a  wise  reprover  upon  an  obedient  ear." — Prov.  25  :  12, 

Gold  and  fine  gold  are  highly  valued  by  the  people  of 
the  world.  And  they  are  very  fond  of  ornaments  made  of 
gold.  There  is  an  ornament  for  the  ear  made  of  gold.  The 
value  of  gold  and  of  ornaments  must  be  kept  in  mind  in 
order  to  get  the  practical  and  spiritual  truth  contained  in 
our  text.  Bearing  the  value  of  gold  in  mind,  the  compar- 
ison in  the  text  will  convey  the  idea  that  an  ear  that 
hearkens  diligentl}^  to  instruction  and  reproof,  is  ornamented 
with  something  more  valuable  than  the  finest  gold,  and  with 
something  that  is  more  beautiful  than  any  ornament  with 
which  the  people  of  the  world  adorn  themselves.  For 
there  are  ornaments  that  in  real  value,  and  in  the  judg- 
ment of  those  most  capable  of  judging,  are  of  much  more 
value,  than  are  ornaments  of  gold,  or  of  fine  gold.  The 
apostle  Peter  in  admonishing  Christian  women,  says :  "  whose 
adorning,  let  it  not  be  that  outward  adorning  of  plaiting  the 
hair,  and  of  wearing  of  gold,  or  putting  on  of  apparel ;  but 
let  it  be  the  hidden  man  of  the  heart,  in  that  which  is  not 
cori'uptible,  even  the  ornament  of  a  meek  and  quiet  spirit, 
wliich  is  in  the  sight  of  God  of  great  price."  According  to 
tlie  language  of  Peter,  the  inward  adorning  of  the  mind, 
with  a  meek  and  quiet  spirit,  adds  more  in  the  estimation  of 
God  to  the  real  worth  of  persons,  than  do  any  external 
adornments  of  gold  or  costly  apparel. 

Our  subject  will  be.  The  value  of  a  teachable  spirit.  This 
seems  to  be  the  great  moral  truth  taught  in  the  text.  Our 
text  is  thu'3  paraphrased  by  Dr.  Hall  in  his  Explanations  of 
Hard  Texts  :  "  A  docile  and  pliable  ear  accounts  a  loving 
and  discreet  reproof  of  his  friends,  more  precious  than  the 


ELDER  JAMES  QUINTEK.  243 

richest  ear  ring  of  gold,  or  whatsoever  more  curious  and 
costly  ornament." 

Under  the  following  heads  we  shall  present  our  subject : 

/.     The  design  of  reproof. 

II.  The  duty  of  reproving. 

III.  The  manner  of  reproving. 

lY.     The  result  of  wise  reproof  to  the  obedient  ear. 

I.     The  design  of  reproof. 

1.  When  reproof  is  given,  he  that  gives  it  must  not  do 
it  to  depreciate  the  character  of  him  to  whom  it  is  given. 
We  should  ever  be  pained  upon  the  discovery  of  faults  in 
others,  and  not  seek  to  expose  them  to  darken  their  char- 
acters. If  our  own  characters  can  not  be  sustained  in  the 
presence  of  others  that  are  as  good  as  we  are,  or  that  are 
better  than  we  are,  and  we  reprove  to  expose  their  faults, 
that  ours  may  be  extenuated,  or  altogether  overlooked,  we 
had  better  not  reprove  others,  but  direct  our  attention  to  the 
improving  of  ourselves.  2.  The  design  of  reproof  should 
be  to  improve  others.  The  object  of  reproving  others  for 
their  faults  should  be  to  help  them  to  see  themselves,  and 
their  faults,  that  they  may  see  the  evil  of  their  conduct, 
and  be  induced  to  reform  and  do  better.  If  we  possess 
the  spirit  of  Christ,  and  of  the  true  Christian,  we  Avill  rejoice 
in  the  well-doing  of  others,  and  labor  to  help  them  to  do 
well.  We  should  all  labor  to  increase  the  general  stock  of 
piety  in  the  world  and  to  diminish  the  amount  of  sin.  We 
should  be  prompted  to  labor  for  this;  first,  to  promote  the 
enjoyment  of  others,  and,  secondly,  to  promote  our  own. 
All  men  are  so  related  to  each  other  that  they  are  much  like 
a  joint  stock  company.  In  such  a  compan}'^,  the  more  the 
interests  of  the  whole  company  are  promoted,  the  more 
the  interests  of  each  one  are  promoted.  The  more  sin  is 
diminished  in  the  world,  the  more  our  temptations  will  be 
diminished  ;  and  the  more  the  cause  of  Christianity  prospers, 


244  SERMONS   OF 

the  more  Christians  will  be  likely  to  be  brought  into  con- 
tact with  it,  and  to  receive  of  its  divine  power. 

II.  The  duty  of  reproving.  One  of  the  commands  under 
the  law  was  as  follows  :  "  Thou  shalt  in  any  wise  rebuke  thy 
neighbor,  and  not  suffer  sin  upon  him."  Lev.  19  :  17.  And 
we  have  a  Christian  admonition  in  the  following  words : 
'•  Have  no  fellowship  with  the  unfruitful  works  of  darkness, 
but  rather  reprove  them."  Eph.  5  :  11.  Paul  said  to 
Timothy,  and  we  presume  his  language  applies  to  all  min- 
isters: "Preach  the  word  ;  be  instant  in  season,  and  out  of 
season ;  reprove,  rebuke,  exhort  with  all  long  suffering  and 
doctrine."  2  Tim.  4  :  2.  Reprove  and  rebuke  are  a  good 
deal  alike  in  their  meaning;  the}'^  both  express  disapproba- 
tion. A  reproof  may  be  given  long  after  the  offense  is  com- 
mitted, and  is  designed  to  bring  about  a  reformation  of  the 
offender.  But  a  rebuke  is  commonly  given  at  the  time  the 
offense  is  committed,  and  it  has  more  of  the  idea  of  punish- 
ment in  it  than  reproof. 

From  such  passages  of  Scripture  it  appears  plain  that  it 
is  our  duty  to  reprove  sin.  If  then  a  brother  or  neighbor 
offerid  us,  we  must  tell  it  to  him  face  to  face,  and  not  let  his 
sin  remain  upon  him  without  making  any  attempt  to  get 
him  to  see  it.  If  he  does  not  see  it  he  will  not  repent  of  it, 
and  it  may  ruin  him.  If  a  sin  is  committed  against  us,  we, 
as  Christians,  may  feel  like  taking  no  notice  of  it;  and  if  it 
has  been  done  against  us,  we  may  think  we  should  bear  it. 
But  we  must  remember  that  a  sin  committed  against  us  is 
also  a  sin  against  him  that  committed  it.  And  though  we 
could  very  easily  bear  it,  we  should  consider  whether  we  are 
not  unfaithful  to  him  if  we  do  not  reprove  him  or  tell  him 
his  fault. 

Our  Lord's  direction  to  Christians,  in  Matt.,  18th  chapter, 
in  regard  to  the  manner  in  which  they  are  to  proceed  when 
a  trespass  is  committed  by  a  brother,  shows  that  it  is  the 


ELDER  JAMES  QUINTER.  245 

offender's  welfare  and  salvation  that  are  to  prompt  the 
offended  brother,  to  reprove  or  tell  the  offender  his  fault. 
"  If  thv  brother  shall  trespass  against  thee,  go  and  tell  him 
his  fault  between  thee  and  him  alone;  if  he  shall  hear  thee, 
thou  hast  gained  thy  brother."  If  the  offender  is  not  told 
of  his  fauit  which  he  has  committed,  and  if  he  does  not 
see  it,  and  feel  it,  and  repent  of  it,  he  is  lost,  to  the 
chui'ch  and  to  himself.  But  if  he  is  properly  approached 
and  reproved,  and  if  he  receives  the  reproof,  and  it 
has  its  desired  effect,  then  he  is  gained  or  saved.  But 
the  idea  that  we  want  noticed  is  this:  it  is  not  the 
honor  or  gratification  of  the  offended  party,  that  is  to 
prompt  that  party  to  seek  satisfaction  from  the  party  that 
is  the  offender,  but  it  is  the  welfare  of  the  latter  that  is  to 
be  looked  at. 

111.  The  manneT  of  reproving .  "As  an  ear  ring  of  gold, 
and  an  ornament  of  fine  gold,  so  is  a  wise  reprover  upon  an 
obedient  ear."  Notice  that  it  is  the  wise  reprover  whose 
reproofs  are  so  salutary  upon  the  obedient  ear.  Success  in 
administering  reproof  may  depend  much  upon  the  manner 
in  which  it  is  done.  Good  preaching,  good  counsel,  and  good 
reproof,  often  fail  of  success,  because  of  the  manner  in  which 
they  are  done.  The  same  thought  of  our  text  that  we  are 
now  presenting ,  namely,  the  manner  in  which  reproof  is  to 
be  given,  is  beautifully,  and  forcibly  presented  in  the  verse 
preceding  our  text.  It  is  thus  presented :  "A  word  fitly 
spoken  is  like  apples  of  gold  in  pictures  of  silver."  Here  it 
is  the  word  that  is  fitly  spoken  that  is  so  highly  com- 
mended. The  manner  then  of  administering  reproof,  and 
indeed  the  manner  of  doing  whatever  is  done  in  the  great 
work  of  reforming  the  erring,  and  in  saving  the  lost,  should 
receive  the  attention  of  all  who  are  laborir  in  the  work  of 
reformation. 

There  is  much  wisdom  in  all  our  Lord's  teaching,  and 


246  SERMONS   OF 

the  way  in  which  he  always  adapted  his  teaching  and  re- 
proof to  the  persons  for  whose  benefit  they  were  given, 
clearly  shows  that  he  well  understood  the  nature  of  men, 
and  the  best  way  to  approach  them  to  gain  their  confidence, 
and  to  benefit  them.  ,  In  his  directions  to  his  disciples,  in 
which  he  teaches  them  how  they  shall  proceed  to  deal  with 
their  offending  brethren,  a  subject  to  which  we  have  already 
referred,  he  directs  the  offended  brother,  or  the  one  that 
would  reprove  and  seek  to  gain  the  offender,  to  go  first 
privately  and  labor  with  his  brother.  "  Go  and  tell  him 
his  fault  between  thee  and  him  alone,"  is  our  Lord's  counsel. 

1.  Then  let  reproof  be  given  at  first  privately.  It  may 
be  very  unpleasant  and  offensive  to  a  person  to  have  his 
fault  made  public,  if  it  was  of  a  private  character.  And  even 
if  it  had  been  of  a  public  character,  still,  the  reproof  will  be 
more  likely,  as  a  general  thing,  to  be  successful  if  given  in  a 
private  way.  If  it  is  done  in  the  presence  of  others,  it  may 
lead  the  person  reproved,  to  make  a  defense  which  he  would 
not  be  so  likely  to  make  if  he  were  approached  privately. 
It  is  true,  Paul  gives  the  following  direction  to  Timothy, 
but  we  presume  he  had  an  illusion  to  sins  that  were  com- 
mitted under  circumstances  that  made  it  necessary  for  the 
church  to  take  notice  of  it,  and  perhaps,  to  act  upon  it. 
And  such  would  seem  to  call  for  a  rebuke  before  the 
church.  The  words  of  Paul,  referred  to,  are  these:  "Them 
that  sin  rebuke  before  all,  that  others  also  may  fear." 
1  Tim.  5  :  20. 

2.  Peproof  should  be  administered  with  great  discretion 
and  judgment.  Some  people  seem  to  boast  that  they  are 
not  afraid  to  speak  to  anybody,  and  to  speak  in  any  way, 
and  they  think  it  is  a  great  commendation  to  them 
to  be  so  free  from  fear.  Well  we  all  should  have 
a  sufficiency  of  courage,  or,  if  you  please,  of  boldness, 
to   not  be  afraid   to  do  our  duty.    But   we    should    not 


ELDER    JAMES    QUINTER.  24-7 

approach  a  person  if  Ave  have  occasion  to  reprove  him, 
with  the  feeling  that  men  approach  each  other  with  when 
they  are  preparing  to  fight  one  another.  In  the  exercise 
of  discretion,  in  reproving,  we  should  ascertain,  if  possible, 
the  disposition  and  temper  of  those  we  have  occasion  to 
reprove.  A  wise  reprover,  like  a  wise  school  teacher,  wdl 
study  the  disposition  of  people.  And  according  to  their 
nature  and  disposition,  the  reproof  should  be  given.  And 
then  the  nature  and  magnitude  of  the  crime  should  be  taken 
into  consideration.  It  has  been  very  justly  said,  "  To 
reprove  small  faults  with  undue  vehemence,  is  as  absurd  as 
if  a  man  should  take  a  hammer  because  he  saw  a  fly  on  his 
friend's  forehead."  And  Cowper  says,  "No  man  was  ever 
scolded  out  of  his  sins."  And  another  writer  has  said,  "  To 
reprove  in  anger  is  like  giving  a  sick  person  a  medicine 
scalding  hot." 

3.  Reproof  should  always  be  given  affectionately  and 
tenderly.  Even  if  the  case  requires  some  severity,  still  let 
tenderness  and  affection  appear  in  the  reproof.  Let  a  person 
know  that  you  love  him,  and  he  will  take  a  great  deal  from 
you  without  becoming  offended.  And  then  we  ought  to 
have  our  hearts  full  of  love  when  we  go  to  reprove,  that 
the  offender  might  imbibe  some  of  it.  For  should  we 
appear  unkind,  or  as  an  enemy  to  the  offender,  his  feelings 
will  at  once  prompt  him  to  assume  an  antagonistic  position, 
and  in  such  a  position  we  shall  not  be  likely  to  do  him  much 
good.  Our  looks  and  tone  of  voice  when  we  reprove,  should 
show  love.  And  to  show  love,  we  should  feel  love.  And 
that  we  may  be  the  more  likely  to  feel  right,  and  act  with 
the  discretion  that  we  should  act  with,  we  should  remember, 
that  the  soul  of  the  offender  is  in  danger  of  being  lost,  and 
that  if  we  succeed  in  restoring  him,  we  "  gain  "  a  brother 
or  a  friend,  and  in  either  case  we  "  save  a  soul  from  death." 

TV.     The  result  of  wise  reproof  to  the  obedient  ear.     "As 


248  SERMONS   OF 

an  earring  of  gold,  and  an  ornament  of  fine  gold,  so  is  a 
wise  reprover  upon  an  obedient  ear."  The  obedient  ear 
is  put  for  an  obedient  heart.  And  the  wise  reprover  upon 
an  obedient  ear,  means,  wise  reproof  upon  an  obedient 
heart.  And  we  may  give  the  words  a  form  something 
like  the  following,  to  bring  out  the  last  idea  we  want  to 
bring  out:  wise  reproof,  or  divine  truth,  given  to,  and 
humbly,  penitently,  and  obediently,  received  by  an  erring 
soul,  will  correct  that  soul  of  its  errors,  and  impart  a  value 
and  beauty  to  it  somewhat  like,  but  far  superior  to,  an 
earring  of  gold,  or  an  ornament  of  fine  gold.  We  have 
already  quoted  Peter's  language,  in  which  he  says,  ''  the 
ornament  of  a  meek  and  quiet  spirit  is  in  the  sight  of  God 
of  great  price."  1  Peter  3  :  4.  Now  that  ornament  of  a 
meek  and  quiet  spirit,  the  soul  that  receives  the  reproof  of 
God's  word,  is  adorned  with.  The  word  of  the  Lord  is 
purifying,  correcting,  and  beautifying  to  an  humble  and 
obedient  soul.  "The  law  of  the  Lord  is  perfect,  converting 
the  soul."  Ps.  19  :  7.  And  as  the  law  of  the  Lord  is  per- 
fect, it  will,  when  believed  and  obeyed,  form  a  perfect  char- 
acter— a  character  symmetrical  in  all  its  parts.  And  such  a 
character  will  be  beautiful  in  the  estimation  of  all  who  can 
appreciate,  and  properly  estimate  spiritual  worth  and  beauty. 
"He  will  beautify  the  meek  with  salvation."  Ps.  149 : 4.  "  In 
that  day  shall  the  Lord  of  hosts  be  for  a  crown  of  glory,  and 
for  a  diadem  of  beauty,  unto  the  residue  of  his  people."  Isa. 
28 :  5.  As  jewels  are  considered  valuable  and  precious  by 
the  world,  so  the  Lord  compares  his  people,  and  their  excel- 
lent and  amiable  characters  to  gold  and  jewels.  "And  they 
shall  be  mine,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts,  in  that  day  Avhen  I 
make  up  my  jewels."  Mai.'  3  :  IT.  A  Roman  lady  was 
showing  and  displaying  her  costly  and  beautiful  jewels  to  a 
Roman  mother,  who  had  a  couple  of  interesting  little  boys. 
She  called  them  to  her,  and  said  to  her  friend  that  was  show- 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTEE  249 

ing  her  jewels,  "  These  are  my  jewels."  So  the  Lord  regards 
his  loving  and  faithful  children  as  his  jewels  or  treasure. 

In  conclusion,  we  would  remark  that  the  greatest  sinners 
are  not  such  that  have  sinned  most,  for  many  great  sinners 
have  received  divine  reproof,  and  have  become  saints.  But 
the  greatest  sinners  are  those  that  will  not  receive  reproof, 
but  continue  to  persist  in  their  evil  ways.  Beloved  friends, 
let  us  gladly,  and  meeklv  j  receive  heaven's  reproofs,  from 
wise  reprovers,  the  ministers  of  God,  and  all  who  kindly  tell 
us  of  our  faults,  and  we  shall  then  become  the  Lord's  jewels 
and  treasure. 

And  permit  us  to  say  to  you,  young  friends,  who  through 
want  of  experience,  and  frequently  through  want  of  consid- 
eration, are  liable  to  err,  do  not  forget  that  j'-our  '*  best 
friends  are  those  that  tell  you  your  faults,  and  teach  you 
how  to  correct  thera."  Then  turn  not  away  from  wise 
reproof,  but  carefully  regard  it,  and  obediently  yield  to  it, 
and  you  will  find  it  more  valuable  than  "  an  earring  of  gold, 
and  an  ornament  of  fine  gold," 


XXL 

LIFE  PEOMOTED  BY  DEATH. 

"And  it  came  to  pass,  as  they  were  burying  a  man,  that, 
behold,  they  spied  a  band  of  men,  and  they  cast  the  man 
into  the  sepulchre  of  Elisha ;  and  when  the  man  was  let 
down,  and  touched  the  bones  of  Elisha,  he  revived,  and 
stood  upon  his  feet."     (2  Kings,  13 :  21.) 

Tiie  occurrence  related  in  our  text  is  a  remarkable  one. 
It  was  a  miracle.  It  was  a  very  clear  manifestation  of 
divine  power.  At  the  time  this  strange  occurrence  happened, 
the  people  of  Israel  were  afilicted  in  various  ways  on  account 


250  SERMONS   OF 

of  their  unfaithfulness  to  God.  They  were  oppressed  by  the 
Syrians,  and  they  were  also  annoyed  by  roving  bands  of  the 
Moabites.  Elisha  the  prophet  had  died,  and  he  was  resting 
in  his  sepulchre.  And  some  one  else  among  the  Israelites 
had  also  died.  And  as  the  people  were  bearing  this  man  to 
the  place  where  they  designed  to  bury  him,  they  were  met 
by  a  band  of  Moabites,  or,  at  least,  they  saw  such  a  band, 
and,  apparently,  fearing  they  might  fall  into  the  hands  of 
these,  their  enemies,  they  laid  the  corpse  of  the  man  they 
were  carrying,  in  the  sepulchre  of  Elisha,  as  they  were  near  to 
that.  And  as  the  dead  man  touched  the  bones  of  the  prophet 
of  God,  he  revived  "and  stood  upon  his  feet,"  and  probably 
went  home,  to  the  joy  as  well  as  to  the  surprise  of  his  friends. 

However  strange  the  occurrence  may  appear,  it  is  no 
more  strange  than  several  of  the  miracles  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment are.  A  ruler  of  the  Jews  appealed  to  our  Lord  to 
raise  his  daughter  from  the  dead.  He  complied  with  the 
ruler's  request,  and  went  to  the  house  of  the  ruler.  And 
when  he  entered  the  house  he  took  the  daughter  of  the  ruler 
by  the  hand,  and  she  arose  and  lived.  It  was  the  touch  of 
our  Lord  that  was  imparted  to  the  dead  maid.  This,  too, 
was  certainly  a  wonderful  occurrence.  It  was  the  same 
power  that  produced  both  effects,  namely, — The  Divine 
Power.  In  the  case  of  the  daughter  of  Jairus,  the  divine 
power  operated  through  the  living  Saviour.  In  the  case  of 
the  man  that  was  thrown  into  the  sepulchre  of  Elisha,  the 
power  was  imparted  to  the  dead  man  through  the  medium 
of  Elisha's  bones.  The  instrumentality  was  very  feeble, 
and  the  excellency  of  the  power  manifested  was  of  God,  and 
not  of  the  feeble  instrument. 

The  following  truths  are  suggested  by  the  text : 

/.  In  God's  government  of  the  world,  life  is  promoted  by 
death. 

II.     The  work  of  God  survives  the  death  of  his  servants. 


ELDER   JAMES   QUTNTER.  251 

III.  The  influence  of  men  upon  the  world,  survives  their 
natural  lives. 

I.  In  God's  government  of  the  world,  life  is  promoted 
by  death. 

1.  This  is  the  case  in  the  natural  or  physical  world.  As 
the  vapors  rising  from  the  various  bodies  of  Avater  form 
the  clouds,  and  these,  in  emptying  themselves,  replenish  the 
bodies  that  supplied  the  clouds  with  water,  so  the  produc- 
tions of  the  earth  of  one  age,  when  dead  and  decayed, 
furnish  many  of  the  fertilizing  elements  which  form  the 
productions  of  succeeding  ages.  The  principle  that  life  is 
promoted  by  death  is  clearly  recognized  and  beautifully 
illustrated  by  our  Lord's  words :  "  Yerily,  verily,  I  say  unto 
you,  except  a  corn  of  wheat  fall  into  the  ground  and  die,  it 
abideth  alone :  but  if  it  die,  it  bringeth  forth  much  fruit." 
John  12 :  24.  The  principle  stated  by  our  Lord  here  is  that 
in  the  vegetable  kingdom,  and  especially  in  plants  and 
seeds,  life  comes  by  death.  The  seed  must  be  planted  in 
the  ground,  and  decay  and  die,  if  we  would  have  it  to  pro- 
duce fruit  and  yield  a  crop.  If  we  keep  our  seed,  and 
refuse  to  let  it  decay  and  die,  we  can  not  expect  to  gather 
a  crop. 

2.  And  especially  do  we  see  the  principle  that  life  is 
promoted  by  death,  in  God's  spiritual  Kingdom,  or  in  the 
work  of  redemption.  It  was  to  teach  and  illustrate  this 
principle  in  redemption  that  our  Lord  alluded  to  the  fact 
that  the  corn  of  wheat  must  die,  if  it  brings  forth  fruit. 
He  designed  to  show  the  importance  of  his  own  death  and 
the  relation  his  death  bears  to  the  spiritual  life  of  men  in 
the  great  work  of  human  redemption  as  completed  by  him. 
In  the  plan  of  salvation,  or  in  the  Gospel  way  by  which 
God  saves  sinners,  the  death  of  Christ  is  made  to  occupy 
a  very  prominent  place.  "  Great  is  the  mystery  of  godli- 
ness," affirms  Paul.    And  as  this  is  the  case,  we  can  not 


252  SKKMO.XS    UF 

understand  how  certain  causes  produce  the  effects  attributed 
to  them.  For  us  it  is  enough  to  know  that  God  has  made 
use  of  certain  means  to  accomplish  his  purposes.  We  may 
feel  assured  that  those  means  are  right  and  that  they  are 
efficient,  otherwise  would  God  not  have  made  use  of  them. 
We  accept,  then,  the  Scriptural  fact  that  Christ  died  for 
our  sins,  and  the  Scriptural  doctrine  of  the  atonement 
built  upon  that  fact,  though  we  can  not  fully  understand 
it. 

That  the  death  of  Christ  occupies  an  important  place  in 
the  Gospel  method  of  saving  sinners  is  evident  from  the 
following  Scriptures:  "  For  I  delivered  unto  you  first  of  all 
that  which  I  also  received,  how  that  Christ  died  for  our 
sins  according  to  the  Scriptures."  1  Cor,  15  : 3.  "  For  if, 
when  we  were  enemies,  we  were  reconciled  to  God  by  the 
death  of  his  Son,  much  more  being  reconciled,  we  shall  be 
saved  by  his  life."  Rom.  5 :  10.  "And  for  this  cause  He 
is  the  mediator  of  the  New  Testament  that  by  means  of 
death,  for  the  redemption  of  the  transgressions  that  were 
under  the  first  testament,  they  which  are  called  might 
receive  the  promise  of  eternal  inheritance."  Heb.  9 :  15. 
But  we  need  not  multiply  Scriptural  testimonies  to 
prove  that  the  death  of  Christ  has  much  to  do  with 
our  salvation.  This  is  a  well  known  Scripture  truth. 
We,  however,  would  yet  remark  that  such  is  the  import- 
ance of  the  death  of  Christ  that  a  commemorative  ordi- 
nance, namely,  that  of  the  communion  of  the  body  and 
of  the  blood,  has  been  made  a  standing  ordinance  in  the 
church  to  commemorate  his  death.  "  For  as  often  as 
ye  eat  this  bread,  and  drink  this  cup,"  said  Paul  to  the  Cor- 
inthian brethren,  "ye  do  shew  the  Lord's  death  till  becomes." 
1  Cor.  11  :  26. 

The  great  Gospel  truth  that  Christ  died  for  sinners  is 
very  instructive.     It  plainly  shows  the  value  of  the  human 


ELDER  JAMES  QUINTER.  253 

soul,  or  of  humanity,  when  its  redemption  was  secured  by  a 
sacrifice  no  less  than  the  life  of  the  Son  of  God.  "  Foras- 
much as  ye  know  that  ye  were  not  redeemed  with  corrupti- 
ble things,  as  silver  and  gold,  from  your  vain  conversation 
received  by  tradition  from  your  fathers;  but  with  the  pre 
cious  blood  of  Cbrist,  as  of  a  lamb  without  a  blemish  and 
without  a  spot."  1  Peter  1  :  18,  19.  And  what  a  remark- 
able manifestation  of  the  love  of  Christ  have  we  in  his 
death  ?  We  may  exclaim  as  the  Jews  did  when  they  saw 
Christ  weep  at  the  grave  of  Lazarus,  "  Behold,  how  he  loved 
him?"     John  11  :  36. 

"  O'erwhelm'd  with  this  abyss  of  love, 
AVe  stand  astonish'd  at  the  grace 
That  brought  the  Saviour  from  above, 
To  die  for  all  the  fallen  race." 

And  as  the  dead  man  carried  by  his  friends,  and  thrown 
by  them  into  the  sepulchre  of  Elisha,  lived  when  he  touched 
the  bones  of  the  holy  man  of  Grod,  so  the  penitent  sinner, 
when  his  faith  embraces  Christ  crucified,  and  he  is  brought 
into  fellowship  with  him,  lives,  and  stands  on  his  feet  an  up- 
right man  before  God.  Or,  in  the  expressive  language,  and 
apt  illustration  of  Paul,  "We  are  buried  with  him  by  bap- 
tism into  death  :  that  like  as  Christ  was  raised  up  from  the 
dead  by  the  glory  of  the  Father,  even  so  we  also  should 
walk  in  newness  of  life.  For  if  we  have  been  planted 
together  in  the  likeness  of  his  death,  we  shall  be  also  in  the 
likenessof  his  resurrection  :  knowing  this  that  our  old  man  is 
crucified  with  him,  that  the  body  of  sin  might  be  destroyed, 
that  henceforth  we  should  not  serve-  sin."  Rom.  6  :  4-6. 
The  apostle's  language,  "  we  are  buried  with  him  by  bap- 
tism, into  death,"  seems  to  imply  that  in  our  baptism,  and 
when  we  are  put  into  the  watery  grave,  we  are  brought  into 
the  possession  of  the  merits  of  his  death.  The  third  verse  of 
the  sixth  chapter  of  Romans  seems  to  confirm  this  idea  : 
"  Know  ye   not  that  so  many  of   us  as  were  baptized  into 


254  SEKMONS    OF 

Jesus  Christ  were  baptized  into  his  death  ?  "  And  with  the 
foregoing  agrees  the  twenty-seventh  verse  of  the  third  chap- 
ter of  Galatians  :  "  For  as  many  of  you  as  have  been  baptized 
into  Christ,  have  put  on  Christ." 

There  is  another  thought  brought  out  by  the  apostle  in 
harmony  with  the  truth  we  are  sustaining,  that  hfe  is 
promoted  by  death,  in  connection  with  his  language  above 
quoted.  It  is  the  sixth  verse  of  the  sixth  chapter  of  Romans 
"  Knowing  this,  that  our  old  man  is  crucified  with  him,  that 
the  body  of  sin  might  be  destroyed,  that  henceforth  we 
should  not  serve  sin."  We  are  frequently  admonished  by 
the  inspired  writers  to  mortify,  and  crucify  what  they  call 
the  "  old  man,"  that  is  our  sinful  nature.  And  unless  atten- 
tion is  given  to  this,  and  we,  by  self-denial  and  mortification, 
keep  our  body,  our  appetites  and  passions  under  control,  we 
can  not  expect  to  experience  improvement  and  growth  in 
the  divine  or  spiritual  life.  The  more  we  die  to  sin,  the 
more  shall  we  live  to  righteousness.  "  For  if  ye  live  after 
the  flesh,  ye  shall  die:  but  if  ye  through  the  spirit  do  mor- 
tify the  deeds  of  the  body,  ye  shall  live." — Rom.  8:  13. 

II.  The  work  of  God  survives  the  death  of  his  servants. 
And  this  being  the  case,  we  see  that  God's  work  does  not 
depend  upon  any  one  man  or  upon  any  body  of  men.  We 
may  sometimes  wonder  what  will  become  of  the  church 
when  certain  faithful  servants  of  God,  that  occupied  a  posi- 
tion of  so  much  prominence  in  the  church,  that  they  almost 
seemed  to  be  essential  to  the  very  existence  of  it,  shall  die. 
But  we  need  not  fear  that  the  work  of  God  will  come  to  a 
close  before  his  purposes  are  accomplished.  His  servants 
may  die,  and  the  most  devoted  and  faithful  of  them,  but 
that  will  not  stop  the  work.  Abraham,  as  the  head  of  the 
Jewish  nation,  through  which  Christ  was  to  come,  was 
called  to  be  the  father  of  the  faithful.  He  occupied  a  very 
prominent  place  in  the  holy   nation  of  which  he  was  the 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTER.  255 

head.  But  after  a  life  full  of  remarkable  incidents,  be  was 
laid  in  bis  sepulchre. 

Isaac  succeeded  him.  He  finished  his  course,  and  died. 
Jacob  followed,  and  the  following  touching  words  describe 
his  end  :  "  And  when  Jacob  had  made  an  end  of  command- 
ing his  sons,  he  gathered  up  his  feet  into  the  bed,  and  yielded 
up  the  ghost,  and  was  gathered  unto  his  people." — Gen. 
49 :  33. 

Thus,  as  death  removed  the  servants  of  God,  he  filled 
their  places  with  others.  Elijah  had  preceded  Elisha.  And 
when  Elijah  died  his  mantle  fell  upon  Elisha.  And  when 
the  latter  died,  the  work  of  the  Lord  still  went  on,  and 
Elisha's  bones  were  used  as  a  medium  through  which  divine 
power  was  exerted.  The  mantle  of  the  workers  of  God  in 
one  age,  when  they  ceased  their  work,  fell  upon  the  workers 
of  the  succeeding  age,  and  thus  the  work  of  God  was  per- 
petuated. 

The  redemptive  w^ork  of  God  having  passed  through  the 
preparatory,  or  the  Jewish  age,  finally  reached  the  Chris- 
tian period  of  redemption.  John  the  Baptist  introduced  the 
Christian  age.  He  finished  his  course  honorably  and  suc- 
cessfully. But  the  current  of  his  eventful  life  did  not  run 
smoothly.  His  faithfulness  brought  him  to  a  premature,  but 
a  glorious  end.  He  anticipated  his  end,  and  when  he  was 
about  leaving  his  work  and  the  world,  hft  pointed  to  Christ, 
his  successor  in  the  great  work  of  reformation  or  redemp- 
tion, in  the  following  expressive  language,  which  showed 
his  great  humility,  and  the  clearness  of  his  views  of  Christ: 
"  He  must  increase,  but  I  must  decrease." — John  3 :  30. 
And  so  it  proved.  Though  John  "  was  a  burning  and  shin- 
ing light "  (John  5 :  35),  yet  his  light  was  eclipsed  by  the 
light  of  Christ,  as  the  stars  are  lost  in  the  light  of  the  sun. 

Christ  was  the  Alpha  and  the  Omega  in  the  work  of 
redemption.     He  was  the  connecting  link  between  the  ser- 


256  SERMONS    OF 

vants  of  God  that  caine  before  hira,  and  those  that  came 
after  hira,  and  he  imparted  to  them  all  the  power, 
wisdom  and  holiness  that  they  possessed.  And  he  could 
not  continue  his  personal  presence  on  earth  with  his 
church.  He,  too,  died,  but  he  rose  again.  And  after  his 
resurrection,  he  ascended  to  heaven,  the  success  of  his  woik 
requiring  him  there.  His  disciples  feared  the  failure  of 
their  cause  when  he  died.  But  his  death  gave  new  power 
to  the  redemptive  work  of  God.  And  that  work  has 
advanced  with  marvelous  rapidity  since  the  glorification  of 
Christ.  He  finished  the  work  of  redemption  in  its  object- 
ive character.  And  he  organized  the  Church  to  perpetuate 
the  work  of  redemption.  His  disciples  followed  him.  He 
said,  in  his  prayer  to  his  Father  for  his  disciples,  "  I  have 
given  unto  them  the  words  which  thou  gavest  to  me." 
John  17  :  8. 

Thus,  we  perceive,  the  work  of  God  was  to  be  perpetu- 
ated by  the  apostles.  They  stood  in  an  important  relation 
to  that  work.  Nevertheless,  the  work  of  God  did  not  die 
with  them.  It  survived  them.  They  were  followed  by 
others  in  the  Lord's  vineyard,  and  as  one  generation  of  the 
faithful  was  called  from  its  work,  another  succeeded  it,  and 
thus  the  work  of  God  has  gone  on  from  age  to  age,  though 
death  has  been  active  in  removing  his  servants.  And  we  of 
the  present  generation  must  leave  the  work  after  a  while, 
however  much  we  may  love  it.  And  we  may  comfort  our- 
selves in  death  with  the  pleasing  thought  that  the  work  of 
God  will  survive  us  and  still  gather  trophies  of  victory  to 
the  honor  of  our  Lord. 

in.  The  influence  of  men  upon  the  world  survives 
their  natural  lives. 

That  men  have  an  influence  upon  the  world  while  living 
is  a  truth  that  will  be  readily  accepted  by  all.  It  is  true, 
the  influence  of  people  differs  very  much.     And  the  influ- 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTER.  257 

ence  of  some  is  very  small.  But  there  are  few  but  that 
have  some  influence.  The  influence  of  Christians  is  recog- 
nized by  our  Lord  in  the  words  addressed  to  his  disciples : 
"  Ye  are  the  light  of  the  world."  Matt.  5  :  14.  And  also 
in  the  following  words:  "Let  your  light  so  shine  before 
men  that  they  may  see  your  good  works  and  glorify  your 
Father  which  is  in  heaven."  Matt.  5  :  16.  It  is  not  only 
the  c-ood  that  leave  an  influence  after  them, but  the  unfaith- 
ful  and  disobedient  do  the  same.  It  has  been  said,  with 
much  truth,  that  we  are  tlie  pupils  of  the  past  and  the 
teachei'S  of  the  future.  The  coming  generation  will  inherit 
much  from  the  present.  Children  do  not  only  inherit  pos- 
sessions, such  as  lands  and  property,  from  their  parents, 
but,  to  a  considerable  degree,  they  also  inherit  their  habits, 
their  principles  and  their  religious  creeds.  This  being  the 
case,  there  is  a  great  responsibility  resting  on  all  of  us  of 
the  present  generation.  The  thought  that  we  should  entail 
evil  upon  posterity  is  a  terrible  thought.  And  we  should 
carefully  avoid  the  danger  of  doing  so.  We  should  so  live 
that  our  influence,  whatever  it  may  be,  may  go  down  to  poster- 
ity as  a  blessing  and  not  as  a  curse.  "The  righteous  shall  be 
in  everlasting  remembrance."     Ps.  112:6. 

There  are  different  ways  in  which  we  may  influence  pos- 
terity. 1.  By  impressing  our  principles  upon  the  age  in 
which  we  live,  by  our  example  and  conversation,  and  in 
every  way  in  which  it  can  be  done.  And  if  we  impress 
our  princii)les  upon  the  present  age,  our  influence  will 
reach  posterity  according  to  well  established  laws.  2.  By 
committing  our  thoughts,  views,  and  principles  to  writing. 
Books,  if  read,  have  an  influence  upon  those  that  read  them. 
And  if  we  write  what  will  have  a  tendency  to  promote 
Christianity,  it  may  continue  to  operate  for  good,  long  after 
we  have  passed  away  from  earth.  3.  Another  excellent 
way  to  do  good  after  death,  is  to  invest  money,  if  we  have 


258  SERMONS    OF 

it,  in  institutions  that  are  calculated  to  do  good.  Money 
invested  in  the  missionary  work  may,  if  judiciously  expended, 
enable  those  who  so  invest  it  to  exert  an  influence  for 
good  long  after  death.  There  is  something  very  pleasant  to 
those  who  appreciate  the  importance  of  doing  good,  and 
who  love  to  do  good,  in  the  thought  that  they  can  continue 
to  work  for  the  Lord  in  the  world  after  they  will  have  gone 
to  their  heavenly  home. 

One  of  the  thoughts  to  the  dying  Christian,  that  may 
give  him  some  sorrow,  is  the  thought  that  he  must,  in  death, 
cease  his  labors  for  the  Lord,  for  he  feels  that  he  can  never 
do  enough  for  the  Lord,  who  has  saved  him,  and  prepared 
an  everlasting  mansion  in  heaven  for  him.  And  if  he  can 
feel  in  death,  that  he  has  so  lived,  and  so  labored  that  he 
will  continue  to  exert  an  influence  for  good  upon  the  world, 
and  for  the  Lord,  when  he  is  dead,  it  will  afford  him  much 
comfort. 

Beloved  friends,  then  let  us  all  so  live,  that  when  we  are 
remembered  by  those  who  come  after  us,  they  may  associ- 
ate our  lives  with  noble  actions,  and  holy  principles.  And 
if  our  graves  or  anything  else  remind  them  of  us,  how  pleas- 
ant and  profitable,  if  at  the  same  time,  they  are  reminded 
of  our  holy  words  and  deeds,  and  are  thereb}^  strength- 
ened and  stimulated  in  the  prosecution  of  their  life's  work 
in  the  holy  service  of  God.  Oh,  how  many  considerations 
there  are  to  urge  us  to  holy  consecration  to  God !  Shall 
they  have  their  influence?  We  hope  so.  May  we  all  be 
raised  up  by  the  magnet  of  Christ's  death,  from  our  state 
of  death  in  " trespasses  and  sins,"  to  "walk  in  newness  of 
life,"  and  to  exert  an  influence  while  living  and  after  death, 
that  will  be  a  blessing  to  the  world,  and  an  honor  to  God. 


ELDER   JAMES    QDINTER.  259 

XXIL 
SECRET  WORSHIP. 

"My  heart  was  hot  within  me;  while  I  was  musing  the 
fire  burned." — Ps.  xxxix.  3. 

The  subject  of  secret  worship  or  devotion  is  one  that 
commends  itself  to  all  who  would  make  their  Christian  life 
a  source  of  enjoyment  to  themselves,  and  a  means  of  useful- 
ness to  others.  We  therefore  feel  as  if  we  should  present  it 
to  your  consideration.  The  subject  we  have  selected  for 
our  consideration  to-day  is  very  practical.  "  My  heart  was 
hot  within  me;  while  I  was  musing  the  fire  burned."  This 
language  expresses  verj^  strong  feelings.  And  it  is  under- 
stood to  express  the  feelings  of  devotion.  Bishop  Home 
thus  explains  it :  "  The  fire  of  divine  charity,  thus  prevented 
from  diffusing  itself  for  the  illumination  and  warmth  of 
those  around  it,  and,  like  other  fire,  rendered  more  intense 
by  its  confinement,  presently  ascended  in  the  flame  of  devo- 
tion towards  heaven ;  while  it  continued  to  be  fed  and 
preserved,  in  brightness  and  vigor,  by  meditation  on  the 
goodness  of  God,  and  the  ingratitude  of  man  ;  the  transient 
miseries  of  time,  and  the  durable  glories  of  eternity." — 
Home  on  the  Psalms. 

This  intense  religious  feeling  seems  to  have  been  that 
which  the  disciples  felt  when  our  Lord  conversed  with 
them  on  the  w^ay  to  Emmaus.  "  And  they  said  one  to 
another,  did  not  our  heart  burn  within  us,  while  he  talked 
with  us  by  the  way,  and  while  he  opened  to  us  the  Scrip- 
tures?" Jeremiah  felt  something  of  it  when  he  said: 
"  his  word  was  in  mine  heart  as  a  burning  fire  shut  up  in 
my  bones,  and  I  was  weary  with  forbearing,  and  I  could 
not  stay."  Jer.  20  :  9.  Burn,  according  to  Webster,  means 
to  be  inflamed  with  passion  or  desire;  as  to  burn  with 
anger*  or  love.  In  our  text  it  means  a  strong  feeling  of 
devotion,  the  heart  and  desires  going  out  after  God. 


260  SERMONS    OF 

1.  What  is  secret  worshijj  f  It  is  worship  not  mani- 
fested with  those  outward  signs  which  usually  distinguish 
public  worship.  Neither  is  it  promoted  nor  produced  by 
the  external  means  by  which  public  worship  is  promoted. 
Secret  worship  does  not  imply  that  we  must  always  be  in 
secret  when  we  perform  secret  devotion.  The  devotion 
may  be  secret  when  we  are  not  in  secret.  It  means  the 
worship  of  the  heart  in  a  peculiar  way.  It  is  true,  our 
public  worship  must  be  the  worship  of  the  heart  if  it  is 
acceptable  to  God.  But  in  public  worship  there  are  exter- 
nal and  visible  forms  which  usually  accompany  it.  Secret 
worship  may,  however,  have  some  form  too.  In  secret 
worship  the  worshiper  may  prefer  to  kneel  down,  and  he 
may  prefer  to  express  his  feelings  in  words.  The  general 
exercises  or  services  which  are  performed  in  public  worship 
are  performed  in  secret  worship ;  but  those  performed  in 
secret  are  performed  in  the  heart,  and  the  worshiper  wor- 
ships alone.  When  our  Lord  said  :  "  When  thou  prayest, 
enter  into  thy  closet,  and  when  thou  hast  shut  thy  door, 
pray  to  thy  Father  which  is  in  secret;  and  thy  Father  which 
seeth  in  secret  shall  reward  thee  openly  "  (Matt.  6 : 6),  he 
did  not  mean  that  to  perform  secret  prayer  it  is  absolutely 
necessary  to  go  into  a  closet  to  pray.  The  idea  is  secret 
prayer,  meaning  by  this  that  we  should  retire  within  our- 
selves and  pray  to  God  mentally.  The  idea  of  a  literal 
closet  is  by  no  means  excluded,  and  in  performing  secret 
worship  it  is  desirable  to  retire  from  the  world  when  it  can 
be  done;  but  when  this  can  not  be  done,  then  we  must 
retire  within  ourselves  and  separate  ourselves  as  much  as 
possible  in  thought  and  feeling  from  those  around  us,  and 
make  God  and  Divine  things,  in  their  relation  to  ourselves 
and  to  our  spiritual  interests,  the  subjects  of  meditation  and 
musing.  This  may  be  done  in  company  as  well  as  when  we 
are  alone.     It   may  be  done  w^hen  the  company  in  which 


ELDER  JAMES    QDINTER.  261 

we  are  placed  is  noisy  and  even  profane.  Our  eyes  may 
be  closed  so  tliat  we  may  see  but  little  of  Avhat  is  around 
us,  and  to  some  degree  we  may  close  our  ears,  or,  which  is 
the  same  thing,  withdraw  our  attention  from  the  external 
world,  and  retire  within  ourselves.  Then  we  are  in  one 
sense  in  the  closet.  This  is  secret  worship  or  secret  devo- 
tion. 

2.  The  advantages  of  secret  worship.  ,  (a)  If  we  have 
learned  to  cultivate  the  spirit,  and  if  we  have  formed  the 
habit  of  secret  worship,  we  can  worship  in  any  place  in 
which  our  lot  may  be  cast.  We  have  the  temple,  the  altar, 
the  minister,  and  the  choir  with  us,  and  with  the  disposition 
and  desire,  we  can  worship.  It  often  happens  that  we  can 
not  get  to  public  worship.  Sometimes  it  happens  that 
the  distance  is  so  great  that  we  can  not  get  to  the  place  of 
public  worship.  It  is  the  lot  of  many  to  live  so  far  from 
the  place  of  public  worship  that  they  can  seldom  enjoy  the 
public  means  of  grace.  If,  then,  they  have  not  learned  to 
worship  God  in  secret,  their  religious- interest  and  enjoyment 
will  decline.  If  we  keep  the  fire  of  devotion  ahvavs  burn- 
ing upon  the  altar,  Lev.  6  :  13,  as  we  may  do,  and  as  we 
should,  we  must  feed  it  with  worship,  both  private  and  pub- 
lic, if  we  have  access  to  public  worship.  To  secret  worship 
we  always  have  access.  It  often  happens  that  affliction 
keeps  us  from  public  worship,  but  it  need  not  keep  us  from 
secret  worship. 

(b)  There  may  be  great  enjoyment  experienced  in 
secret  worship,  as  is  evident  from  our  text.  "  My  heart  was 
hot  within  me  ;  while  I  was  musing  the  fire  burned."  The 
same  pious  author,  in  referring  on  another  occasion  to  his 
secret  devotions,  says,  "  My  soul  shall  be  satisfied  as  with 
marrow  and  fatness;  and  my  mouth  shall  praise  thee  with 
joyful  lips:  when  I  remember  thee  upon  my  bed,  and  medi- 
tate on  thee  in   the  night  watches." — Ps.  63 :  5,  6.       Such 


262  SERMONS    OF 

expressions  indicate  a  very  high  degree  of  enjoyment.  And 
under  what  circumstances  was  it  that  he  experienced  such  a 
strong  religious  feeling  ?  It  was  not  when  he  was  with  a  great 
multitude  of  his  Jewish  brethren  at  some  of  their  great  feasts 
at  which  the  Jews  enjoyed  themselves  so  much,  when  thay 
sang  the  expressive  psalms  used  on  such  occasions.  Neither 
was  it  when  David  was  enjoying  himself  with  his  music  that 
the  fire  of  devotion  burned  with  such  warmth  and  bright- 
ness. It  was  when  he  was  musing,  when  he  was  meditating 
upon  the  great  tilings  taining  to  God,  to  man,  and  to 
eternity. 

Many  professing  Christians  do  not  seem  to  enjoy  them- 
selves unless  they  are  in  what  they  call  lively  meetings. 
There  must  be  good  preaching,  and  good  singing,  and  every- 
thing must  be  just  so.  And  sometimes  the  meeting  is  not 
sufficiently  attractive  to  draw  some  to  it,  unless  there  is  a 
strange  preacher  to  preach.  The  home  ministers,  though 
they  may  preach  the  truth,  can  not  make  the  meeting  inter- 
esting enough  for  some.  Such  have  not  learned  the  import- 
ance of  getting  their  own  minds  into  a  devotional  frame  if 
they  would  have  profitable  and  happy  meetings,  and  it  is  to 
be  feared  they  have  not  learned  the  practice  of  secret  wor- 
ship as  well  as  it  should  be  learned  and  practiced.  Those 
who  appreciate  and  practice  secret  worship  are  not  so 
entirely  dependent  upon  preaching  and  other  public  means 
of  grace  for  the  promotion  of  their  Christian  edification,  as 
those  are  who  have  not  so  much  cultivated  the  spirit  of 
secret  worship. 

(c)  In  regard  to  the  advantages  arising  from  secret 
worship,  we  may  remark  further,  that  while  it  has  some 
advantages  that  public  worship  has  not,  as  we  have  already 
showed,  it  has  also  the  general  advantages  that  public  wor- 
ship has.  And  the  last  of  these  advantages  to  which  we 
shall  allude  is  the  spiritual  strength  which  it  imparts  to  the 


ELDER    .lAMKS    QUINTER.  263 

worshipers,  preparing  them  for  labor  and  duty.  The  prom- 
ise our  Lord  gives  in  connection  with  his  precept  for  secret 
prayer  is  both  encouraging  and  suggestive.  "  Thy  Father 
which  seeth  in  secret  shall  reward  tiiee  openly."  The  sin- 
■  cere  and  humble  worshiper  will  come  forth  from  his  closet 
and  from  the  public  sanctuary,  with  the  blessing  of  God  upon 
him,  and  if  it  does  not  show  itself  as  plainly  as  did  the  glory 
which  Moses  obtained  in  his  interview  with  God,  when  "  the 
skin  of  his  face  slione  "  with  the  divine  glory,  it  will  be 
manifest  that  he  was  "  with  Jesus."  The  promise  is,  "  they 
that  wait  upon  the  Lord  shall  renew  their  strength  ;  they 
shall  mount  up  with  wings  as  eagles  ;  they  shall  run  and  not 
be  weary;  and  they  shall  walk  and  not  faint." — Isai.  40  :  31. 
This  happy  result  will  follow  waiting  upon  the  Lord  in  seeret 
as  well  as  in  public. 

3.  The  examples  of  secret  worship)  that  we  hawe  in  many 
of  the  saints  of  the  Bible,  (a)  Isaac  is  an  example.  It  is 
said  that  "  Isaac  went  out  to  meditate  in  the  field  at  the 
eventide." — Gen.  24:  63.  The  marginal  reading  is,  "he 
went  out  to  pray."  (b)  That  faithful  mother  in  Israel, 
Hannah,  the  mother  of  Samuel,  is  a  worthy  example  of 
secret  worship.  "  She  spake  in  her  heart ;  only  her  lips 
moved,  but  her  voice  was  not  heard."  I.  Sam.  1 :  13.  The 
unfaithful  Eli  did  not  understand  Hannah's  spirit  or  exer- 
cises, and  thought  she  was  under  the  influence  of  wine.  Did 
he  mistake  her  devotions  because  he  was  unacquainted  with 
secret  worship  %  It  seems  he  could  not  sympathize  with  her 
in  her  "  bitterness  of  soul."  (c)  Daniel's  practice  shows  that 
he  had  his  secret  worship.  "  Now  when  Daniel  knew  that 
the  writing  was  signed,  he  went  into  his  chamber  ;  his  win- 
dows being  open  in  his  chamber  toward  Jerusalem,  he 
kneeled  upon  his  knees  three  times  a  day,  and  prayed,  and 

gave  thanks  before  his  God,  as  he  did  aforetime." Dan.  6 : 

10.    It  will  be  remembered  that  the  writing  referred  to  was 


264  SERMONS   OF 

the  decree  that  whosoever  would  call  upon  any  God  or  man 
for  thirty  days,  except  the  king,  was  to  be  cast  into  a  den  of 
lions. 

(d)  The  next  example  we  shall  refer  to  is  that  of  Peter. 
He  was  called  to  Ceserea  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  Cornelius. 
His  mission  was  an  important  one.  Christ  was  to  be 
preached  to  the  Gentiles.  Peter,  in  some  degree,  appreci- 
ated his  work,  and,  as  the  company  approached  the  city, 
"Peter  went  up  upon  the  housetop  to  pray  about  the  sixth 
hour."  And  it  was  when  he  was  at  his  devotions  that  he 
saw  the  vision  of  the  "  great  sheet  knit  at  the  four  corners, 
and  let  down  to  the  earth."  God  has  often  manifested  him- 
self to  his  people  when  they  were  at  their  secret  devotions. 

(e)  Tlie  last  example  that  we  shall  notice  is  that  of 
Jesus.  Matthew  says:  "And  when  he  had  sent  the  multi- 
tudes away,  he  went  up  into  a  mountain  apart  to  pray  :  and 
when  the  evening  was  come,  he  was  there  alone."  Matt. 
14 :  23.  Henry  has  the  following  just  remarks  upon  this 
passage:  "Though  he  had  so  much  work  to  do  with  others, 
yet  he  chose  sometimes  to  be  alone,  to  set  us  an  example. 
Those  are  not  Christ's  followers  that  do  not  care  for  being 
alone ;  that  can  not  enjoy  themselves  in  solitude  when  they 
have  none  else  to  converse  with,  none  else  to  enjoy,  but  God 
and  their  own  hearts."  • 

4.  We  shall  next  notice  the  manner  in  which  secret  wor- 
shij)  is  to  he  promoted.  "While  I  was  musing  the  fire 
burned."  The  intense  religious  feeling  which  seems  to  have 
bean  experienced  by  David  was  produced  by  meditation. 
Musing  means  meditation  or  contemplation.  It  has  been 
said,  and  probably  with  much  truth,  "Meditation,  which  is 
the  mother  of  devotion,  is  the  daughter  of  retirement." 
The  humble  believer,  in  retirement  from  the  world,  and 
encraged  in  pious  meditation,  will  be  likely  to  share  in 
David's  devout  feelings.     Meditation  is  an  excellent  pro- 


ELDER   .TAMES    QUINTEK.  265 

moter  of  devotion.  "  While  I  was  musing  the  fire  burned." 
"Then  spake  I  with  my  tongue,"  etc.  And  from  what  he 
spake  we  may  form  an  idea  what  were  the  subjects  upon 
whicli  he  was  musing  when  the  fire  of  devotion  was  kindled 
in  his  heart,  which  produced  so  much  religious  feeling. 

(a)  He  thought  upon  himself.  Alexander  Pope  justly 
remarks:  '*  The  proper  study  of  mankind  is  man."  And 
the  inscription:  "Know  thyself,"  was  written  by  some  of 
the  ancients  upon  their  temple.  It  is  in  retirement,  and  by 
meditation,  that  we  come  to  a  knowledge  of  ourselves. 
This  was  the  experience  of  the  prodigal  son.  If  we  all 
would  stud}^  ourselves  more  we  would  become  better 
acquainted  with  ourselves,  with  our  infirmities  and  imperfec- 
tions. And  such  knowledge  would  lead  to  spiritual  improve- 
ment. David  thought  upon  his  end.  And,  apparently,  he 
wanted  to  have  a  feeling  in  regard  to  his  end,  as  well  as 
knowledge,  and  hence  his  prayer:  "Lord,  make  me  to  know 
mine  end,  and  the  measure  of  my  days,  what  it  is;  that  I 
may  know  how  frail  I  am."  Y.  4.  "When  we  realize  that 
our  mortal  life  shall  end,  and  that  our  days  on  earth  are  but 
few,  then  we  will  be  likely  to  feel  the  importance  of 
improving  our  time  and  of  doing  whatever  is  to  be  done. 

(b)  The  vanity  of  the  world,  or  the  vain  pursuits  of 
mankind,  was  also  a  subject  of  meditation.  "  Surely  every 
man  walketh  in  a  vain  show  :  surely  they  are  disquieted  in 
vain:  he  heapeth  up  riches,  and  knoweth  not  who  shall 
gather  them."  V.  6.  To  look  at  the  world  when  we  have 
retired  from  it,  and  with  a  devotional  feeling,  we  shall 
learn  more  of  its  true  nature  than  when  we  are  minirlinir 
with  the  crowd  and  sharing  in  its  exciting  scenes. 

(c)  God  was  also  present  to  David's  mind,  and  consti- 
tuted an  important  subject  in  his  meditations.  And  no  sub- 
ject of  meditation  is  more  impressive  or  profitable,  and  no 
subject  will  be  so  likely  to  awaken  the  spirit  of  devotion, 


266  SERMONS   OF 

as  this.  Alas !  how  little  is  God  thought  of,  and  as  a  conse- 
quence he  is  but  little  feared.  David,  in  thinking  of  the 
goodness,  tiie  power  and  the  truthfulness  of  God,  apparently 
had  a  clearer  view  of  his  character,  and,  with  this,  increased 
confidence  in  him,  and  hence  he  said  "  my  hope  is  in  thee." 
Y.  7.  Our  devotions,  when  proper,  will  confirm  and  brighten 
our  hope.  Oh,  who  can  think  of  God,  and  of  Christ,  and  of 
judgment,  and  of  death,  and  of  hell,  and  of  heaven,  without 
being  humbler,  wiser  and  holier? 

5.  In  view  of  the  importance  of  secret  worship,  we  should 
cultivate  the  spirit  of  it.  It  takes  some  cultivation  and 
attention.  To  have  such  a  control  of  our  minds  as  to  be 
able  to  take  them  from  surrounding  objects,  and  to  fix  them 
on  divine  things,  requires  attention  and  practice.  But  it 
may  be  done.  As  students,  you  can  so  cultivate  the  habit 
of  study,  so  as  to  pursue  your  studies  when  there  may  be 
company  around  you,  and  more  or  less  noise.  It  is  desirable 
to  be  free  from  all  annovance  when  you  are  studying,  and  it 
should  be  so  as  much  as  possible.  Nevertheless,  you  may  so 
learn  to  study  as  not  to  be  easily  interrupted.  And  so  it  is 
in  our  devotional  exercises.  We  may,  by  cultivation  and 
habit,  learn  to  withdraw  our  minds  from  surrounding  ob- 
jects and  to  fix  them  on  divine  things,  and  thus  promote  the 
spirit  of  devotion. 

The  cultivation  of  the  spirit  of  secret  worship,  and  the 
formation  of  the  habit  of  retiring  within  ourselves,  and  of 
making  things  that  we  have  stored  away  in  the  mind,  and 
other  subjects  of  a  proper  character,  the  subjects  of  musing 
or  meditation,  will  tend  much  to  the  promotion  of  our 
Christian  edification  and  improvement.  As  we  have  already 
remarked,  such  as  can  worship  in  secret,  or  edify  themselves 
by  their  devout  meditations,  are  not  so  dependent  upon 
others  for  spiritual  edification  as  those  are  who  have  not 
cultivated   the  spirit  of   secret  worship.     It  appears  that 


LLDEK   JAMES   QUINTEK.  267 

some  can  only  worship  or  be  edified  when  they  have  out- 
ward helps.  We  sometimes  see  a  congregation  that  has 
assembled  for  worship  before  the  time  for  commencing,  in- 
dulging freely  in  conversation,  even  to  such  a  degree  as  to 
be  heard  distinctly  over  the  house.  This  does  not  seem  to 
be  commendable  in  an  assembly  met  for  Christian  worship. 
It  may  be  altogether  allowable  to  converse  at  times  on  such 
occasions,  but  to  indulge  in  it  to  the  degree  it  is  oftentimes 
done  does  not  agree  with  the  solemnity  or  character  of  the 
occasion.  Still  more  out  of  place  does  the  practice  appear 
which  is  sometimes  indulged  in,  in  places  in  the  country,  for 
people,  especially  for  members  of  the  church,  to  remain  out- 
side of  the  house,  sitting  about  in  companies,  talking  upon 
worldly  matters,  until  the  public  exercises  commence. 

If  the  importance  of  secret  worship  is  appreciated,  and 
the  spirit  of  secret  devotion  cultivated,  the  time  before  the 
public  services  commence  may  be  well  employed  in  secret 
devotion — in  "  musing."  The  fire  of  devotion  may  be  thus 
kindled,  and  then,  when  the  public  services  commence,  there 
will  be  a  much  better  preparation  for  these  than  there  will 
be  if  the  time  has  been  spent  in  conversing  on  worldly  sub- 
jects. A  season  of  secret  devotion  before  public  services 
will  add  greatly  to  the  profit  of  the  latter. 

"We  would,  in  view  of  the  importance  of  our  subject, 
recommend  to  you  all  the  cultivation  of  the  spirit  and  habit 
of  secret  worship.  You  need  not  expect  to  make  any  great 
advancement  in  the  divine  life  without  it.  It  can  not  be 
done.  But  by  cultivating  this  spirit  you  can  turn  every 
place  into  a  Christian  temple,  and  find  Christ  there.  "And 
thy  Father  which  seeth  in  secret  shall  reward  thee  openly." 


268  SEKMONS    OF 

XXIII. 

AN  ADMONITION  AGAINST  NEGLECTING  PUB- 
LIC WORSHIP.— DEDICATORY  SERMON. 

"Not  forsaking  the  assembling  of  ourselves  together,  as 
the  manner  of  some  is,  but  exhorting  one  another,  and  so 
much  the  more,  as  ye  see  the  day  approaching."  Heb.lO :  25. 

The  suitableness  of  the  text  to  the  occasion  upon  which 
we  have  assembled  this  morning,  we  presume  will  appear  to 
you  all.  Christians  are  admonished  not  to  forsake  the 
assembling  of  tliemselves  together.  And  while  the  admoni- 
tion comes  with  peculiar  propriety  to  Christians,  it  comes 
with  much  propriety  to  all  men,  for  all  men  are  under  obli- 
gations to  God.  We  recognize  him  to  be  the  maker  and 
supporter  of  all  things,  and  the ''fount  of  every  blessing." 
And  in  requiring  of  us  our  worship  and  service  he  requires 
no  more  than  what  he  is  justly  entitled  to.  And  while  God 
may  be,  and  should  be  worshiped  in  secret,  he  should  also  be 
worshiped  in  public.  There  are  very  good  reasons  for  pub- 
lic worship.  Under  the  Jewish  dispensation,  very  explicit 
commands  were  given  for  public  worship,  and  for  its  promo- 
tion special  places  were  to  be  provided:  One  of  these  places 
was  the  tabernacle.  In  the  Lord's  communication  with  Moses 
concerning  this  tabernacle,  he  said,  ''And  let  them  make  me  a 
sanctuary,  that  I  may  dwell  among  them.  According  to  all 
that  I  show  thee,  after  the  pattern  of  the  tabernacle,  and  the 
pattern  of  all  the  instruments  thereof,  even  so  shall  ye  make 
it."  Ex.  25:  8,  9.  "And  there  will  I  meet  with  thee,  and 
I  will  commune  with  thee  from  above  the  mercy  seat,  from 
between  the  two  cherubims  which  are  upon  the  ark  of  the 
testimony,  of  all  things  which  I  will  give  thee  in  command- 
ment unto  the  children  of  Israel."     Ex.  25  :  22. 

In  due  time  the  temple  was  built,  audit  became  the  place 
to  which  the  Israelites  resorted  to  worship  God.  The  fol- 
lowing is  Solomon's  language  in  reference  to  it :     "And, 


ELDER   JAMES   QUINTER.  269 

behold,  I  purpose  to  build  a  house  unto  the  name  of  the 
Lord  my  God,  as  the  Lord  spoke  unto  David  my  father,  say- 
ing, thy  son,  Avhoui  I  will  set  upon  thy  throne  in  thy  room, 
he  shall  build  a  house  unto  my  name."  1  Kings  5  :  5.  While 
there  were  special  localities  named  in  which  suitable  build- 
ings were  to  be  prepared  as  places  for  worship  in  the  land 
of  Israel  among  the  Jews,  it  is  not  so  among  Christians. 
We  have  not  the  same  minute  detail  of  circumstances  in 
regard  to  localities  in  which  Christian  meeting-houses  are  to 
be  built,  and  the  plan  upon  which  they  are  to  be  built. 
These  things  are  left  to  the  wisdom,  discretion  and  benevo- 
lence  of  Christians  to  decide.  The  Jewish  religion  was  only 
intended  for  a  time,  and  only  for  the  Jews.  It  is  true  there 
were  some  proselytes  to  the  Jewish  religion  from  among 
other  nations,  but  the  number  was  comparatively  small. 
The  Jewish  religion  was  never  intended  to  be  a  universal 
religion.  And  because  of  the  peculiar  character  of  the  Jews, 
of  their  country,  and  of  their  government,  the  regulations 
made  for  public  worship  among  them  are  not  adapted  to  the 
wants  of  the  world  in  general.  The  Christian  religion  was 
designed  for  all  nations,  and  for  all  time,  until  time  ends. 

But  while  we  have  not  the  same  specific  directions  for 
building  and  ])reparing  places  for  worship  in  the  gospel  of 
Christ  that  the  Jews  had  in  the  law  of  Moses,  still  we  have 
the  principle  of  public  worship  clearly  recognized,  and  plainly 
taught  in  the  Gospel.  In  our  text  we  are  admonished  not 
to  forsake  the  assembling  of  ourselves  together;  and  if 
we  are  to  assemble  ourselves  together  we  must  have 
places  to  assemble  in,  such  as  you  have  built  here.  The 
admonition  to  Christians  in  our  text  has  suggested  it 
as  a  suitable  one  for  the  present  occasion.  Our  subject 
will  be,  An  admonition  to  Christians  not  to  nealect  puMio 
worshij).  We  shall  present  our  thoughts  under  the  three 
following  heads  : 


270  SERMONS   OF 

I.  Ati  implied  duty. 

II.  T/ie  danger  against  which  Christians  are  admonished. 

III.  The  motive  upon  which  the  admonition  is  given. 
We  shall  then  notice  : 

I.  The  implied  duty.  When  the  apostle  admonishes 
Christians  not  to  forsake  the  assembling  of  themselves 
together,  it  is  evidently  implied  in  the  admonition  that  it 
is  the  duty  of  Christians  to  meet  together  for  public  wor- 
ship. The  duty  is  also  implied  in  our  Lord's  language,  in 
which  he  makes  the  following  promise  :  "  For  where  two 
or  three  are  gathered  together  in  my  name,  there  am  I  in 
the  midst  of  them."  Matt.  18 :  20.  The  propriety  and 
utility  of  public  worship  are  gi-ounded  upon  principles  that 
are  found  in  our  nature  or  organization.  Christianity  is 
eminently  adapted  to  the  wants  of  men.  And  the  means 
designed  to  promote  it  are  in  perfect  harmony  with  the 
principles  of  our  organization.  We  are  social  beings.  We 
love  society,  and  men,  women  and  children  all  find  it  to 
theif  advantage  in  promoting  their  interests  and  their  pleas- 
ures to  associate.  People  meet  together  to  counsel  and 
exhort  one  another  in  evil  things  as  well  as  in  good.  "  Iron 
sharpeneth  iron  ;  so  a  man  sharpeneth  the  countenance  of 
his  friends.'^  Prov.  27  :  17.  Conversation  and  communication 
between  men  cheer  their  hearts,  and  when  the  heart  or 
mind  is  cheered  it  will  show  itself  in  the  countenance  or 
looks.  Good  people's  good  properties  are  improved  by 
associating  with  the  good,  and  bad  people  are  made  worse 
by  associating  with  wicked  companions.  It  is  no  less  true 
that  good  communications  confirm  and  improve  good  man- 
ners, as  well  as  evil  communications  corrupt  good  manners. 
There  are  three  reasons  why  Christians  should  meet  together 
for  public  worship.  1,  They  should  meet  together  to  pro- 
mote their  own  comfort  and  edification.  "Not  forsaking 
the  assembling  of  ourselves  together,  as  the  manner  of  some 


KLDEK    JAMES    QU INTER.  271 

is ;  but  exhorting  one  another :  and  so  much  the  more  as  ye 
see  the  day  approaching."  The  object  here  stated  for 
which  Christians  were  to  assemble  together  is  that  they 
might  exhort  one  another.  And  what  does  exhortation 
mean  ?  It  means,  to  use  Webster's  definition,  to  use  words 
or  arguments  to  incite  to  good  deeds.  In  tliis  sense  it  is  prob- 
ably to  be  understood  when  it  is  said  of  Peter,  "  With  many 
other  words  did  he  testify  and  exhort,  saying,  save  your- 
selves from  this  untoward  generation."  Acts  2  :  40.  We 
have  the  word  exhort  in  the  following  text  and  many 
others:  "And  Judas  and  Silas,  being  prophets  also  them- 
selves, exhorted  the  brethren  with  many  words  and  con- 
firmed them."  Acts  15 :  32.  Exhortation  is  very  much 
the  same  as  prophesying,  as  Paul  explains  prophesying.  He 
explains  it  thus :  "  He  that  prophesieth  speaketh  unto  men 
to  edification,  and  exhortation,  and  comfort.  He  that 
speaketh  in  an  unknown  tongue  edifieth  himself;  but  he 
that  prophesieth  edifieth  the  church."  1  Cor.  14:3,  4.  And 
Paul  to  his  Roman  brethren  writes  as  follows:  "  Ha\jing 
then  gifts  differing  according  to  the  grace  that  is  given  to  us, 
whether  prophecy,  let  us  prophesy  according  to  the  propor- 
tion of  faith;  or  ministry,  let  us  wait  on  our  ministering; 
or  he  that  teacheth,  on  teachmg;  or  he  that  exhorteth,  on 
exhortation."  Rom.  12 :  6,  8.  Here  exhortation  is  distin- 
guished from  ministering  and  teaching.  As  we  have  seen 
from  the  definition  which  Webster  gives  it,  it  means  to 
incite  to  good  deeds.  That  is,  it  means  to  stir  up,  to  wake 
up,  and  to  move  to  action.  In  teaching,  the  teacher  imparts 
knowledge  and  instructs  in  gospel  doctrine  and  duty. 
While  in  a  state  of  sin  or  spiritual  death,  we  are  not  only 
not  doing  anything  that  is  good,  but  we  are  often  very  igno- 
rant of  what  is  good  and  of  what  is  right.  So  we  must  be 
first  instructed  in  what  is  right.  Hence  the  commission  of 
our  Lord  to  his  disciples,  "  teach  all  nations."     But  it  too 


272  SERMONS   OF 

often  happens  that  after  people  are  taught  their  duty,  and 
the  ways  of  the  Lord,  that  they  are  very  slov/  to  perform 
their  duty  and  to  enter  upon  a  Christian  life.  This  being 
the  case,  they  need  then  to  be  stirred  up  from  their  spirit- 
ual drowsiness  and  inactivity,  that  they  may  run  in  the 
ways  of  God's  commandments  (Ps.  119  :  32)  and  enter  into 
the  Lord's  vineyard  to  work.  /Vnd  to  stir  people  up  to 
duty,  both  before  they  enter  upon  a  Christian  life  and  like- 
wise afterwards,  seems  to  be  a  work  more  particularly  for 
the  exhorter.  While  people  want  to  be  enlightened,  tliey 
must  also  be  moved.  While  they  need  to  have  the  under- 
standing enlightened,  they  also  need  to  have  the  feelings 
stirred  up.  And  Christians  need  after  their  conversion 
helps  to  keep  them  faithful,  and  so  they  are  to  exhort  one 
another.  This  kind  of  help  they  should  all  be  able  to  ren- 
der, and  hence  we  are  admonished  to  exhort  one  another. 
All  this  work  of  exhortation  must  not  necessarily  be  per- 
formed by  the  preachers.  All  may  lawfully  engage  in  it, 
and  all  should  engage  in  it  according  to  the  text. 

Similar  to  the  idea  that  we  have  in  the  word  exhort,  we 
have  in  the  verse  preceding  our  text  in  the  word  provoke. 
That  verse  reads  thus :  "  And  let  us  consider  one  another 
to  provoke  unto  love  and  good  works."  And  then  follows 
our  text  with  some  ideas  closely  related  to  those  in  the 
above  verse  quoted,  admonitory,  and  designed  to  stir  men 
up  to  diligence  in  working  out  their  salvation.  We  are  to 
provoke  one  another,  as  well  as  exhort  one  another,  "  to 
love  and  good  works."  Notice  the  state  into  which  we  are 
to  be  brought,  and  in  which  we  are  to  abide  ;  it  is  "  love 
and  good  works."  Love  here  probably  means  the  Christian 
grace  of  charity,  that  grace  that  is  such  an  important  element 
in,  and  which  constitutes  such  a  large  part  of,  the  Christian 
character.  This  love  is  to  be  connected  with  good  works. 
The  faith  of  the  Gospel,  and  the  faith  that  justifies  and 


ELDER   JAMES   QUINTEE.  273 

saves,  is  said  to  be  a  faith  that  works  by  love.  Gal.  5  :  6. 
Faith  works,  and  it  works  by  love,  and  the  result  is,  the  good 
works,  the  prominent  Christian  characteristic  of  a  true  Chris- 
tian life.  The  difference,  perhaps,  or  one  of  the  differences, 
between  exhorting  and  provoking,  is  this:  in  exhorting  w^e 
speak  and  use  words  to  stir  up  persons  to  do  what  we  look 
upon  as  their  dut}^  and  what  is  to  their  s])iritual  interests, 
as  well  as  to  the  spiritual  interests  of  others;  while  in  pro- 
voking people  to  do  their  duty,  we  do  it  by  our  own  example, 
or  by  setting  before  them  the  noble  and  pow^erful  examples 
of  the  good.  Sometimes  some  Christians  may  have  grown 
somewhat  cold  and  formal,  and  dilatory  in  their  Christian 
life  and  experience.  If  then  such  do  not  forsake  the 
assembling  of  themselves  together  with  the  Church,  but 
assemble  with  their  brethren,  who  have  the  "  love  of  God 
shed  abroad  fn  their  hearts  by  the  Holy  Ghost  which  is  given 
unto  them."  Rom.  5  :  5.  When  the  cold  or  lukewarm  see 
and  hear  their  brethren  rejoicing  in  the  Lord,  and  are  brought 
into  associations  with  them,  they  will  be  likely  to  be  stirred 
up  or  provoked  to  such  an  ^ercise,  or  performance  of  duty, 
tha£  will  result  in  making  them  also  joyful  in  the  Lord. 
Christians  that  are  blessed  with  "the  joys  of  salvation" 
should  provoke  and  exhort  others  to  a  like  holy  and  happy 
state.  And  none  should  forsake  the  assembling  of  them- 
selves together,  as  it  is  in  the  house  of  the  Lord,  and  among 
the  people  of  the  Lord,  in  the  holy  exercise  of  Christian 
worship,  that  the  declining  branches  maybe  revived,  the 
lukewarm  brought  to  do  their  first  works  over,  the  weak 
made  strong,  the  babes  in  Christ  made  to  grow,  the  seekers 
find  Christ,  and  the  ungodly  be  brought  to  feel  the  need  of 
an  interest  in  Christ. 

2.  The  second  reason  we  offer  why  Christians  should 
assemble  together  and  encourage  and  support  public  worship, 
is  the  moral  effect  it  has  upon  the  people  of  the  world. 


274  SERMONS     OF 

Many  who  are  now  Christians  and  members  of  the  Church 
owe  their  conversion  to  the  influence  of  public  worship. 
And  though  many  who  attend  public  worship  do  not  seem 
to  profit  by  the  opportunities  thus  afforded  them,  still  there 
may  be  an  influence  exerted  which  will  eventually  bring 
some  at  least  of  these  to  Christ.  And  if  the  administration 
of  the  word  does  not  reform  many  who  have  access  to  it  in 
the  sanctuary  of  the  Lord,  it  has  more  or  less  a  restraining 
influence  upon  them,  which  keeps  them  from  many  evils. 
If  we  had  not  the  Lord's  day  every  week  to  afford  us  time, 
and  if  we  had  not  our  churches  and  the  ministration  of  the 
Gospel  to  afford  us  Christian  instruction,  we  would  certainly 
have  a  much  worse  state  of  society  around  us.  However 
little  many  of  our  young  people  seem  to  profit  by  their 
attendance  upon  public  worship,  if  we  had  no  public  worship 
for  them  to  attend,  and  they  would  spend  their  Lord's  days 
and  all  their  leisure  time  at  places  and  amusements  altogether 
free  from  such  influences  as  the  sanctuary  of  the  Lord 
affords,  we  would  have  a  terrible  state  of  morals  around  us. 
The  influence  exerted  by  th^  ministry  of  the  gospel,  and 
by  the  general  services  comprised  in  public  worship,  is  such, 
that  its  value  can  scarcely  be  estimated.  Consequently 
Christians  should  not  only  by  their  attendance  upon  public 
worship  encourage  it,  but  they  should  also,  to  the  extent  of 
their  ability,  help  to  build  meeting-houses  for  public  wor- 
ship, and  help  to  promote  it  in  every  way  they  can.  Breth- 
ren, you  can  not  expend  money,  or  invest  it  in  any  better 
way  than  to  appropriate  it  to  the  promotion  of  the  worship 
of  God,  considering  the  various  and  the  great  influence 
which  the  public  worship  of  God  has  in  enlightening  the 
public  mind,  and  in  restraining  the  people  from  evil,  and  in 
furthering  the  cause  of  justice,  truth  and  righteousness  in 
every  community  in  which  the  true  worship  of  God  with  all 
its  connections  is  regularly  performed. 


KLUER    JAMES    QUINTEK.  275 

3.  The  third  reason  we  offer  for  public  worship  is,  that 
in  this  worship,  when  it  is  properly  performed,  God  is  hon- 
ored and  his  name  glorified.  This  is  a  consideration  that 
is  too  much  overlooked  by  us  all.  We  do  not  generally  see 
the  advantages  as  clearly  or  as  readily,  growing  out  of  the 
friendship  of  God,  as  we  should.  But  when  we  consider  our 
relation  to  God,  and  our  dependence  upon  him,  the  import- 
ance of  securing  his  favor  and  friendship  must  be  very  appar- 
ent. It  is  always  greatly  to  our  advantage  to  live  at  peace 
with  all  men.  But  as  our  happiness  and  well-being  depends 
more  upon  God  than  it  does  upon  men,  it  is  of  still  greater 
advantage  to  us  to  live  at  peace  Avith  God,  and  to  enjoy  his 
friendship.  It  is  said,  "When  a  man's  ways  please  the  Lord, 
he  maketh  even  his  enemies  to  be  at  peace  with  him."  Prov. 
16  :  7.  And  if  the  Lord  makes  our  enemies  to  be  at  peace 
with  us,  when  we  please  him,  he  himself  will  surely  be  at 
peace  with  us.  And  if  he  is  at  peace  with  us,  he  will  be  our 
friend,  protector  and  helper.  And  well  might  the  apostle  say, 
with  holy  confidence,  "If  God  be  for  us,  who  can  be  against 
us."     Rom.  8:  31. 

II.  The  danger  against  which  we  are  admonished.  "  Not 
forsaking  the  assembling  of  ourselves  together  as  the  man- 
ner of  some  is."  When  we  consider  the  advantages  of 
assembling  ourselves  together  in  the  sanctuary  of  the  Lord, 
to  ourselves,  and  to  our  neighbors,  and  when  we  know  that 
we  may  honor  the  Lord  by  so  doing,  it  may  seem  strange 
that  Christians  should  forsake  the  holv  assembly  of  worship- 
ers. But  they  have  done  so,  and  are  in  danger  of  doing  so, 
and  hence  the  admonition  of  our  text. 

There  are  different  reasons  given  by  those  who  forsake 
the  sanctuary  of  God  and  its  holy  service.  I.  We  hear  it 
said  sometimes  that  the  distance  is  too  great  to  the  meeting. 
Now  this  may  sometimes  be  a  sufficient  reason  for  staying 
at  home,  but  it  is  to   be  feared  that  it  is  often  given  as  a 


276  SERMONS    OF 

mere  excuse,  when  the  distance  might  be  traveled  very 
readily  by  the  time  of  meeting.  But  if  the  distance  is 
really  too  great,  if  those  who  have  the  difficulty  to  contend 
with  would  take  a,  greater  interest  in  going  to  meeting 
this  diflBculty  would  be  overcome.  One  way  to  overcome 
the  difficulty  would  be  to  increase  the  number  of  meeting- 
houses. And  the  propriety  of  doing  so  should  be  dul}'  con- 
sidered by  those  who  have  so  far  to  go  to  meeting  as  to 
prevent  them  from  going.  More  Christian  liberality  would 
sometimes  remove  this  obstacle.  The  most  of  people 
who  have  anything  like  a  proper  appreciation  of  the 
gospel,  acknowledge  that  it  is  the  duty  of  Christians  to  have 
the  gospel  preached  that  people  ma}"  have  the  advantages  of 
it.  But  it  is  a  fact  that  should  not  be  overlooked,  that  if 
the  gospel  is  to  be  preached  to  the  people,  and  if  we  are  not 
to  forsake  "the  assembling  of  ourselves  together,"  we  must 
have  a  place  in  wliich  to  assemble.  This  is  plain.  Hence 
the  propriety  of  building  meeting-houses  in  every  commu- 
nity in  which  they  are  needed  to  promote  the  worship  of 
God. 

We  have  started  a  mission  over  in  Denmark,  and  under 
God's  blessing  it  seems  to  be  prospering.  Our  brethren 
there,  not  being  among  the  more  wealthy  classes,  had  but 
small  houses,  and  hence  no  suitable  places  for  worship,  as 
they  generally  worshiped  in  private  houses.  And  under 
such  circumstances  they  found  it  especially  inconvenient  to 
hold  their  communion  meetings.  Brother  Hope  informed 
the  brethren  in  America  of  the  disadvantages  the  brethren 
in  Denmark  labored  under  in  consequence  of  having  no 
suitable  place  of  their  own  to  worship  in,  and  last  spring  at 
our  annual  meeting,  some  of  the  brethren  suggested  the 
propriety  of  making  an  effort  to  collect  funds  there  for 
building  a  meeting-house  in  Denmark.  The  effort  was 
made,   and  made   too  very  successfully.    This   was  right. 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTER.  277 

We  must  have  places  to  worship  in.  And  now  you  people 
that  live  in  this  community,  have  a  good  house  here  to 
worship  in,  and  do  not  forsake  "the  assembling  of  yourselves 
together  as  the  manner  of  some  is." 

2.  We  have  neard  it  said  by  some  that  they  have  not  a 
comfortable  place  to  meet  in,  and  therefore  they  do  not  go 
to  public  worship.  Years  ago  when  our  brethren  worshiped 
generally  in  private  houses,  in  some  places  their  houses  were 
not  large,  and  the  people  knew  that  the  accommodations 
were  limited,  and  fearing  they  would  interfere  with  the  con- 
venience of  the  members  of  the  church,  they  would  not  go 
to  meeting.  We  are  glad  that  this  reason  no  longer  exists 
to  any  considerable  degree.  Our  brethren  are  now  wisely 
building  commodious  houses  for  worship.  This  is  as  it  should 
be.  We  should  build  and  prepare  convenient  and  comfort- 
able houses  for  the  people  to  assemble  for  worship,  and 
Christian  edification.  We  are  pleased  to  see  that  you  have 
built  such  a  house  here.  It  is  commodious  and  comfortable. 
There  is  nothing  extravagant  about  it.  You  have  it  com- 
fortably seated.  This  was  formerly  too  much  overlooked. 
We  were,  some  time  ago,  in  a  large  meeting  house,  in  which 
the  seats  had  no  backs.  Many  people  in  collecting  took 
seats  back  against  the  walls  of  the  house,  to  have  something 
to  support  them.  Convenience  and  comfort  should  be  con- 
sulted, while  extravagance  and  display  in  Christian  houses 
for  worship  should  be  avoided. 

3.  We  can  not  enumerate  all  the  reasons  that  people  give 
for  forsaking  the  assembling  of  themselves  together.  They 
are  many.  But  all  people,  and  especially  Christians,  should 
not  forsake  the  public  worship  of  God  without  a  sufficient 
reason— a  reason  that  they  could  give  to  God,  if  they  had 
occasion  to  do  so,  and  they  may  sometime  have  occasion  to 
do  so.  We  shall  yet  notice  what  is  a  very  common  cause 
for    some  Christians   forsaking    the  assembling  of  them- 


278  SERMONS   OF 

selves  together  for  public  meeting  People  sometimes  do 
not  feel  like  going  to  worship,  and  hence  do  not  go.  This 
is  not  right.  It  often  happens  that  we  may  not  feel  like 
going  to  meeting,  but  when  we  get  there  we  feel  better. 
And  this  will  generally  be  the  case.  If  we  do  not  just  feel 
■as  we  would  like  to  feel,  but  go  and  fill  our  place  in  the 
house  of  the  Lord,  we  will  be  very  likely  to  feel  better. 
To  remain  away,  because  we  do  not  feel  like  going,  is  a 
dangerous  course  to  pursue.  If  we  stay  at  home  one  time 
because  we  do  not  feel  like  going  to  religious  service,  per- 
haps bv  the  next  time  there  is  meeting  we  shall  feel  still  less 
like  going.  The  text  makes  it  our  duty  to  attend  public 
worship,  and  it  likewise  contains  an  admonition  against  neg- 
lecting this  duty.     We  therefore  should  not  neglect  it. 

There  is  another  idea  we  w^ant  to  present  to  you  in  this 
connection,  and  that  is  the  importance  of  avoiding  bad 
example;  "  as  the  manner  of  some  is."  The  manner  of  some 
was  to  forsake  public  worship.  Paul  would  caution  his 
brother  from  following  the  example  of  such.  It  is  a  fact  that 
some  people  seem  inclined  to  look  at  bad  example  rather  than 
at  the  example  of  the  good.  Unconverted  people  will  some- 
times pass  by  the  example  of  the  good,  and  apparently  see 
only  the  faults  of  certain  members  in  the  church  who  are 
not  distinguished  for  their  piety  or  consistency.  It  Avould 
seem,  strange  that  any  of  us  would  let  the  example  of  the 
lukewarm  and  indifferent  influence  us,  and  draw  us  into 
their  way  that  w^ill  lead  to  ruin.  The  example  of  such 
should  rather  lead  us  to  greater  watchfulness  and  prayer- 
fulness.  "When  we  consider  what  they  are  doing,  how  they 
are  dishonoring  their  holy  profession,  and  pursuing  a  course 
that  must,  if  continued,  bring  them  to  sorrow  and  destruc- 
tion, will  we  follow  their  evil  course  ?  It  is  very  unwise 
to  do  so. 

III.     The  ground  of  the  admonition.     "And  so  much  the 


ELDER    JAMES   QUINTER.  279 

more,  as  ye  see  the  day  approaching. "  As  a  motive  to 
induce  his  brethren  to  observe  the  important  admonitions 
given  them,  the  apostle  reminds  them  that  a  certain  day  is 
approaching.  They  no  doubt  knew  what  day  he  alluded  to. 
It  was  the  day  that  is  called  the  day  of  the  Lord.  Paul 
says  to  the  Thessalonians,  "  For  yourselves  know  per- 
fectly that  the  Lord  so  cometh  as  a  thief  in  the  night, 
for  when  they  shall  say,  peace  and  safety;  then  sudden 
destruction  cometh  upon  them,  that  as  travail  upon  a  woman 
with  child;  and  they  shall  not  escape."  1  Thess.  5  :  2,  3. 
The  day  referred  to  in  our  text  is  the  day  referred  to  by 
the  apostle  in  his  epistle  to  the  Thessalonians  that  we  quoted 
above.  That  day  will  surely  come,  and  it  will  come  as  a 
thief.  And  when  it  comes  there  will  be  no  time  to  prepare 
to  meet  the  Lord, 

"We  may  also,  in  making  a  practical  application  of  the 
subject,  apply  the  day  alluded  to,  to  the  day  of  death. 
This  also  will  close  all  our  opportunities  for  working  out  our 
salvation.  Then  in  applying  the  term  day  to  either  the  day 
of  death,  or  to  the  day  of  the  coming  of  the  Lord,  the  prac- 
tical meaning  is,  there  is  a  day  approaching,  which  will  cut 
off  further  privileges  for  salvation.  Notice  it  is  approaching, 
and  we  who  walk  by  faith   see  it  approaching. 

Then  there  is  another  thought.  While  that  day  closes 
the  time  of  probation  to  man,  it  also  closes  the  time  of  the 
saints'  conflicts,  troubles  and  sorrows.  It  is  the  day 
of  the  saints'  redemption.  Then  let  this  powerful  motive 
of  the  apostle  have  its  desired  effect  in  inciting  us  to 
faithfulness  in  our  attendance  upon  our  christian  meetings 
for  worship  and  edification,  and  to  a  practical  improvement 
of  the  lessons  and  encouragements  we  receive  there. 


280  SERMONS    OF 

XXIV. 
TRUE  MANHOOD— BACCALAUREATE  SERMON. 

(Preached  Sunday  Evening,  June  24,  1883,  to  the  Graduating  Class 
and  the  Students  of  the  Huntingdon  Normal  College.) 

"  Run  ye  to  and  fro  through  the  streets  of  Jerusalem  and 
see  now,  and  know  and  seek  in  the  broad  phices  thereof,  if 
ye  can  find  a  man,  if  there  be  any  that  executeth  judgment, 
itliat  seeketh  the  truth  ;  and  I  will  pardon  it." — Jer.  5:1: 

This  is  a  part  of  a  prophecy  of  Jeremiah,  delivered  to 
the  Jews  at  a  time  of  great  degeneracy  or  apostasy.  And 
in  consequence  of  their  apostasy,  they  were  threatened  with 
terrible  jiKlgments  by  the  Lord.  We  shall  read  a  few  verses 
in  the  closing  part  of  the  chapter,  preceding  that  from  which 
our  text  is  taken,  referring  to  the  threatenings  of  the  Lord  : 
"For  thus  hath  the  Lord  said,  the  whole  land  shall  be  deso- 
late; yet  will  I  not  make  a  full  end.  .For  this  shall  the 
earth  mourn,  and  the  heavens  above  be  black :  because  I  have 
spoken,  I  have  purposed  it,  and  will  not  repent,  neither  will  I 
turn  back  from  it.  The  whole  city  shall  flee  for  the  noise  of  the 
horsemen  and  bowmen;  they  shall  go  into  thickets,  and 
climb  up  upon  rocks:  every  city  shall  be  forsaken,  and  not 
a  man  dwell  therein.  And  when  thou  art  spoiled,  what 
wilt  thou  do?  Though  thou  clothest  thyself  with  crimson, 
though  thou  deckest  thee  with  ornaments  of  gold,  though 
thou  rentest  thy  face  with  painting,  in  vain  shalt  thou  make 
thyself  fair:  thy  lovers  will  despise  thee,  they  will  seek  thy 
life." 

Our  text  contains  the  reason  why  the  Lord  purposed  to 
inflict  the  punishment  upon  the  people  that  he  did.  It  was 
because  of  the  universal  prevalence  of  sin  in  Jerusalem — 
The  state  of  the  Jews  at  that  time  reminds  us  of  the  condi- 
tion of  the  antediluvian  world,  in  reference  to  which  it  is 
said,  "And  God  looked  upon  the  earth,  and,  behold,  it  was 
corrupt;  for  all  flesh  had  corrupted  his  way  upon  the  earth." 
Gen.  6 :  12.  • 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTEK.  2b  1 

According  to  our  text,  there  was  not  a  man  in  Jerusalem. 
The  Lord  could  see  none, —  and  yet  there  was  a  large  pop- 
ulation in  Jerusalem.  And  no  doubt,  had  some  Jew  answered 
the  Lord,  he  would  have  said,  "  We  have  a  great  many  men 
in  Jerusalem."  But  according  to  the  Lord's  meaning  he 
would  have  answered,  "You  have  many  men  according  to 
your  idea  of  a  man,  but  according  to  my  idea  of  a  man,  you 
have  none."  This  must  have  been  startling  to  the  Jews,  to 
have  it  insinuated  that  there  was  not  a  man  in  Jerusalem 
with  its  great  population!  We  are  reminded  of  what  is 
said  of  the  Lord  in  connection  with  the  selection  of  a  kino- 
to  fill  the  place  of  Saul.  It  is  said,  "  The  Lord  seeth  not  as 
man  seeth;  for  man  looketh  on  the  outward  appearance, 
but  the  Lord  looketh  on  the  heart." — L  Sam.  16:7.  And 
it  was  when  the  Lord  looked  into  the  heart  of  the  people  of 
Jerusalem  and  saw  not  that  inward  state  of  thought  and 
feeling  that  are  necessary  to  constitute  a  real  and  true  man, 
that  he  expressed  himself  as  he  did,  in  language  that  implies 
there  was  not  a  man  in  Jerusalem.  "  Run  ye  to  and  fro 
through  the  streets  of  Jerusalem,  and  see  now,  and  know, 
and  seek  in  the  broad  places  thereof,  if  ye  can  find  a  man, 
if  there  be  any  that  executeth  judgment,  that  seeketh  the 
truth :  and  I  will  pardon  it." 

Our  subject  will  be,  True  Manhood.  And  we  shall  pre- 
sent our  thoughts  under  the  four  following  head.s. 

1.  GoiVs  idea  of  true  men. 

2.  The  scarcity  of  true  men. 

3.  The  value  of  true  men. 

4.  The  formation  of  true  men. 

1.      god's   idea    of   TRUE   MEN. 

The  prophet's  language  implies  that  there  was  not  a  man 
in  Jerusalem.  As  we  remarked  above,  according  to  human 
judgement,  there  no  doubt  would  have  been  many  men  in 
Jerusalem.     But  God's  judgment  and  men's  differ  in  regard 


282  SERMONS   OF 

to  many  things.  It  surely  is  a  very  unfortunate  circum- 
stance for  man  that  he  finds  his  original  nature  so  perverted 
and  corrupted  that  his  judgment  is  in  conflict  with  that  of 
God's.  When  God  and  man  differ  in  their  judgment,  there 
should  be,  and  we  hope  there  will  be,  no  hesitation  in  decid- 
ing who  is  right.  God  can  not  err.  Hence  the  apostle's 
language,  "Let  God  be  true,  but  every  man  a  liar." — Kom. 
3:4.  Let  us  not  forget  that  God  is  always  right.  This 
great  truth  is  the  foundation  of  our  faith  in  God.  And  how- 
ever strange  the  idea  may  seem  that  there  was  not  a  man  in 
Jerusalem  with  all  its  swarming  population,  it  was  correct. 
But  God  could  not  accept  man's  idea  of  a  true  man.  God 
made  man  originally  "upright "  and  "  in  his  own  image."  But 
he  hasiost  so  much  of  his  original  character,  that  until  he 
recovers  what  he  has  lost,  God  can  not  recognize  him  as  a 
true  or  real  man. 

It  has  been  said,  and  probably  with  much  truth,  that 
were  an  angel  sent  to  find  the  most  perfect  man,  he  would 
probably  not  find  him  engaged  in  forming  a  body  of  divinity, 
but  rather  find  him  to  be  a  cripple  in  a  poor-house,  whom 
the  people  of  the  parish  wish  dead.  He  \v^ould  also  be  very- 
humble  before  God,  and  perhaps  have  lower  views  of  him- 
self than  others  have  of  him.  VYe  may,  perhaps,  confirm 
and  illustrate  this  idea  by  the  rich  man  and  Lazarus.  Had 
it  been  left  to  a  man  of  the  world  to  decide  which  of  the  two 
was  most  of  a  man,  no  doubt  the  decision  would  have  been 
given  in  favor  of  the  rich  man,  who  "was  clothed  in  pur- 
ple, and  fine  linen,  and  fared  sumptuously  every  day." 
Wealth,  and  display,  and  power,  are  much  mare  prominent 
elements  in  the  world's  ideal  of  true  manhood,  than  purity, 
meekness,  and  poverty  of  spirit.  The  prophet  Malachi,  in 
reproving  the  people  of  his  day  for  their  errors  in  judgment, 
says,  "  And  now  we  call  the  proud  happy ;  yea,  they  that 
work  wickedness  we  set  up  ;  yea,  they  that  tempt  God  are 


ELDER   JAMES   QUINTER.  283 

delivered." — Mai.  3:15.  It  is  the  men  of  wealth  and  of  show, 
that  the  world  honors  most,  and  elevates  to  positions  of 
authority  in  government.  We  were  in  a  community,  some 
little  time  ago,  and  the  character  of  public  men  was  the  sub- 
ject of  conversation.  It  was  said  that  in  an  election  in  the 
past,  there  was  a  candidate  for  an  office,  whose  competency 
was  not  questioned.  But  he  was  poor,  and  a  cripple,  and  he 
was  defeated.  Such  occurrences  are  not  uncommon.  True 
manhood  passes  with  many  at  a  discount,  while  wealth  and 
display  command  a  premium. 

But  what  is  true  manhood  in  the  estimation  of  God  ? 
And  whatever  it  is  in  his  estimation,  it  is  in  truth  and  reality. 
He  is  described  as  one  that  seeks  the  truth.  We  presume 
you  will  all  agree  with  us  that  by  truth  in  our  text,  we  are  to 
understand  tlje  holy  law  of  God,  as  He  has  revealed  it  to  us 
in  His  Woi'd.  '"Sanctify  them  through  thy  truth  :  thy  word 
is  truth.'' — Jno.  17  :  17.  So  prayed  the  Saviour,  and  so  hon- 
ored He  God's  word  and  truth,  in  making  it  a  means  of  puri- 
fication in  the  system  of  redemption.  In  seeking  the  truth, 
there  is  implied  a  conscious  need  of  the  truth.  Man,  in  his 
natural  or  sinful  condition,  is  represented  as  being  "dead." 
His  spiritual  nature  is  so  stupid,  unfeeling  and  debased,  that  he 
is  represented  as  being  dead.  And  while  he  is  in  that  stupid 
and  indifferent  condition,  in  regard  to  his  spiritual  nature 
and  his  eternal  interests,  he  has  no  desire  for  the  truth  of 
God,  and  of  course  will  not  seek  it.  He  does  not  want  it 
though  he  much  needs  it.  His  animal  nature  is  alive,  and 
he  needs  provision  to  meet  its  wants;  his  intellect  is  alive,  and 
he  craves  knowledge  and  seeks  knowledge,  to  satisfy  his  intel- 
lect, as  he  seeks  food  to  satisfy  his  bodily  wants.  But  while 
the  spirit  slumbers,  or  is  dead,  there  is  no  felt  want  of  spiritual 
food,  or  of  the  truth  of  God,  and  it  is  not  sought.  When,  how- 
ever, the  spiritual  nature  in  man  is  awakened,  and  begins 
to  be  quickened,  then  he  begins  to  feel  the  need  of  some 


284  SERMONS    OF 

thing  spiritual  to  meet  his  spiritual  wants,  and  he  begins  to 
seek  the  truth.  Or,  in  the  language  of  our  Lord,  he  begins 
to  "  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness."  It  was  the 
deep  and  religious  wants  of  David's  spiritual  nature,  that 
prompted  him  to  use  the  expressive  language  that  he  did 
when  he  exclaimed,  "As  the  heart  panteth  after  the  water- 
brooks,  so  panteth  my  soul  after  thee,  O  God.  My  soul 
thirsteth  for  God,  for  the  living  God."     Ps.  42  :  2. 

We  have  another  phiin  illustration  of  the  point  we  are 
upon,  namely,  the  fact  that  when  the  higher  nature  in  our 
manhood  is  quickened,  there  will  be  a  turning  to  the  truth 
of  God  for  the  obtaining  of  the  necessary  provision  to  sat- 
isfy our  spiritual  wants.  The  case  we  allude  to  is  that  of  the 
Ethiopian  eunuch. — Amid  the  religious  influences  that  were 
in  active  operation  at  Jerusalem,  the  place  to  which  he  had 
been  to  worship,  his  mind  being  greatly  awakened  to  the 
importance  of  religious  things.  He  became  a  seeker. 
And  from  what  source  did  he  seek  light  and  comfort  ?  He 
sought  the  truth.  He  turned  his  attention  to  the  Word  of 
God  and  was  reading  the  prophet  Isaiah,  when  Philip 
joined  himself  to  him.  Here  he  sought  effectually  what  he 
needed.  The  prophecy  was  opened,  and  Christ  was  found  in 
it,  and  he  was  presented  to  the  eunuch,  and  he  believed  in 
him,  and  he  and  Philip  both  went  down  into  the  water,  and 
he  was  baptized  by  Philip,  and  then  went  on  his  way  re- 
joicing, because  his  anxious,  troubled  and  thirsty  spirit  was 
satisfied.  He  felt  as  David  had  felt,  when  he  said,  "My  soul 
shall  be  satisfied  as  with  marrow  and  fatness  ;  and  my  mouth 
shall  praise  thee  with  joyful  lips."     Ps.  6b  :  5. 

But  notice,  the  character  that  God  recognizes  as  a  man, 
must  seek  the  truth.  This  implies  labor,  research  and  inves- 
tigation.— God  has  given  us  His  word,  and  He  has  given  us 
the  ministry,  and  other  helps.  Nevertheless,  we  must  seek 
to  know  and  understand.     God's  Word  comes  to  us  through 


ELDEK   JAMES    QDINTER.  285 

human  language,  and  we  must  get  the  meaning  of  God's 
mind  and  will,  by  fairly,  justly,  and  properly  interpreting 
the  language  through  which  God's  Word  comes  to  us. 
We  are  especially  concerned  to  understand  the  English 
version  of  the  Scriptures,  as  this  is  our  language  and  the 
language  through  which  God  speaks  to  us. 

Again;  the  truth  has  been  misinterpreted,  and  there  is 
much  error  in  the  world.  And  the  author  of  error  has 
mixed  some  truth  with  his  errors  to  make  them  more 
effectual  in  deceiving.  And  the  early  education  of  us,  per- 
haps, has  not  been  altogether  free  from  error.  We  have 
different  churches,  and  we  preachers  of  the  different  churches 
do  not  all  preach  alike  or  explain  the  Scriptures  alike. 
We  said  awhile  ago,  that  Philip  and  the  eunuch  went  down 
into  the  water.  Now  some  will  tell  you  that  they  did  not 
go  down  into  the  water.  We  differ  in  regard  to  Cliristiau 
rites  and  Christian  doctrine.  Hence  the  necessity  of  all  of  us 
seeking.  We  should  seek  diligently.  In  the  following  pre- 
mise our  success  is  conditioned  upon  earnest  effort:  "If 
thou  criest  after  knowledge,  and  liftest  up  thy  voice  for 
understanding ;  if  thou  seekest  her  as  silver,  and  searchest 
for  her  as  for  hid  treasure ;  then  shalt  thou  understand  the 
fear  of  the  Lord,  and  find  the  knowledge  of  God."  Prov. 
2  :  3-5. 

We  should  aiso  seek  the  truth  prayerfully  and  humbly. 
Our  Lord  thanked  his  heavenly  Father  that  he  had  hidden 
divine  truths  "from  the  wise  and  prudent  and  revealed 
them  unto  babes."  Our  Heavenly  Father  does  not,  by  any 
direct  agency  or  power,  hide  the  truth  from  any.  But  He 
has  adapted  it  to  the  humble  and  simple  mind  ;  those  that 
have  such  a  mind  will  understand  it,  and  receive  it ;  while 
it  is  not  adapted  to  a  vain  and  self-conceited  mind,  and  such 
will  not  appreciate  its  beauty  nor  receive  it,  and  hence  it  is 
said  to  be  hidden  from  them,     Knowledofe  is  hidden  from 


286  SERMONS    OF 

the  idle  student,  but  revealed  to  the  diligent,  patient  and 
persevering.  Such  are  the  results  of  the  ordinary  laws  gov- 
erning us  in  such  things. 

In  the  second  place,  a  true  man  is  described  as  one  that 
executeth  judgment.  The  word  judgm.ent,  in  the  Scripture, 
frequently  means  law.  Such  seems  to  be  its  meaning  in  the 
following  passages:  "I  will  praise  thee  with  uprightness  of 
heart,  when  I  shall  have  learned  thy  righteous  judgments." 
Ps.  119 : 7.  Bridges  says,  in  his  exposition  of  this  verse, 
'''■The  righteous  judgments  of  God!''''  include  the  whole 
revelation  of  his  Word — so-called — as  the  rule  by  which  he 
judges  our  present  state,  and  will  pronouce  our  final  sen- 
tence. Such  also  seems  to  be  the  meaning  of  the  word 
judgments  in  the  following  passage  :  "  My  soul  breaketh  for 
the  longing  that  it  hath  unto  thy  judgments  at  all  times." 
Ps.  119  :  20. 

A  true  man,  then,  executes  judgment. — That  is,  he  exe- 
cutes the  law  of  God,  he  ap))lies  it  as  it  is  to  be  applied  in 
all  the  affairs  and  business  of  life.  This  law  is  said  to  be 
"  exceeding  broad."  Ps.  119  :  96.  It  covers  all  the  duties 
that  grow  out  of  the  relations  we  stand  in  to  one  another, 
as  well  as  those  we  stand  in  to  God  And  a  faithful  and 
true  man  will  execute  the  law  of  his  God  in  all  of  its  require- 
ments and  in  all  of  its  applications.  As  the  head  of  a  family, 
he  will  execute  it  in  his  family ;  as  a  pastor  of  a  church,  he 
will  execute  it  in  the  church  ;  in  whatever  position  in  life 
he  is  called  to  fill,  he  will  use  his  utmost  endeavors  to  exe- 
cute the  truth.  And  in  his  individual  capacity  he  will  do  the 
same,  whatever  sacrifices  he  must  make,  or  whatever  self- 
denial  he  must  endure.  So  will  the  true  man — the  man  of 
God — the  man  recognized  by  God  to  be  a  man,  execute  judg- 
ment, and  do  justice  and  right  to  all. 

II.       THE    SCARCITY    OF    GOOD   MEN. 

There  was  not  found  a  true  or  good  man,  according  to 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTER.  287 

the  Standard  of  true  manhood,  in   Jerusalem!     This   is  a 
humiliating  truth  to  tiie  pride  of  man.     This  is  not  the  only 
passage  of  Scripture  we  have  declaring  the  scarcity  of  good 
men.    Ten  good  men  could  not  be  found  in  Sodom.    It  may 
be  said,  these  are   special   cases.     But  we   have   Scripture 
testimony  that  makes  this  truth  of  a  very  general  character. 
"Who  can   find  a  virtuous  woman?"  asks  Solomon.     Pv. 
31 :  10. — Solomon  has   been  thought  by  some  to  be  pretty 
severe  in  his  insinuation  in  regard  to  women.     But  it  would 
seem  from  the  following  language,  that  he  had  no  better 
opinion  of  his  own  sex.     "A  faithful  man  who  can  find  ? " 
Pv.   20  :  6.     So,  according  to  Solomon's  language,   faithful 
men  were  scarce,  as  well  as  virtuous  women.    And  the  great 
Christian  Teacher  declares,   "  Strait  is  the  gate,  and   nar- 
row is  the  way,  which  leadeth  unto  life,  and  few  there  be 
that  find  it."     Matt.  7 :  14.      Our  Lord  also  teaches  that 
there  will  be  few  true  believers  upon  the  earth  when  he  comes 
again.     He  puts  the  suggestive  truth  He  wished  to  present, 
in  the  form  of  a  question,  thus:  "When  the  Son  of  man 
cometh,   shall   he    find  faith  on  the  earth?"    Luke  18  :  8. 
There  is  much  profession  at  the  present  time  in  the  world, 
but  it  is  to  be  feared  there  is  comparatively  little  true  Chris- 
tianity, little  of  that  true  manhood  which  in  the  estimation 
of  God,  constitutes  true  and  good  men.     And  so  it  appears 
it  will  be  when  our  Lord  comes.     While  there  will  proba- 
bly be  much  that  will  be  called  "  faith,"  there  will  be  com- 
paratively little  true  faith,  little  of  that  faith  that  accepts 
all  the  teachings  of  Christ  as  important,  and  as  essential  to 
the  formation  of  perfect  Christian  character. 

From  the  solemn  truth  taught  in  our  text,  and  confirmed 
by  numerous  other  texts  of  Scripture  t hat  there  is  a  scarcity 
of  good  men  in  the  world,  we  all  should  look  well  to  our- 
selves, our  principles,  and  our  characters,  to  see  whether  we 
are  right.     And  let  us  not  forget  that  it  is  not  according  to 


288  SERMONS    OF 

the  world's  standard  of  manhood  that  we  are  to  be  judged, 
but  according  to  God's  standard.  His  Holy  Word,  and  if 
we  want  to  meet  his  approbation  and  enjoy  His  favor,  we 
must  execute  judgment  and  seek  the  truth. 

III.       THE    VALUE    OF   TRUE    MEN. 

One  good  man,  according  to  God's  estimation  of  a  true 
or  good  man,  Avould  have  saved  Jerusalem.  And  ten  right- 
eous men  would  have  saved  Sodom.  And,  as  Sodom  was 
destroyed  for  the  want  of  righteous  men,  and  as  Jerusalem 
was  severely  chastised  for  want  of  a  true  man,  the  fact  that 
other  places  have  not  met  the  same  fate,  would  seem  to  indi- 
cate that  these  places  have  been  more  favored  with  the  holy 
influences  of  the  good  than  were  Sodom  and  Jerusalem. 

The  influence  that  good  men  have  exerted  in  the  world, 
is  yet  to  be  realized,  for  it  never  has  been.  "  Ye  are  the 
salt  of  the  earth,"  said  Jesus  to  his  disciples.  The  good 
have  always  been  the  salt  of  the  earth.  They  have  pre- 
served the  earth,  and  they  have  been  the  earth's  benefactors 
bv  blessing  it  with  their  holy  labors,  and  by  bringing  down 
tiie  blessings  from  Heaven  upon  it  by  their  prayers.  And 
you,  beloved  hearers,  we  are  fearful,  do  not  appreciate 
your  obligations  to  the  good  of  the  world  for  what  you 
now  are,  and  for  what  you  are  enjoying.  Many  of  you 
have  had  good  parents,  and  your  ancestors  before  them, 
were  good.  And  had  it  not  been  so,  your  condition 
to-ciav,  Avould,  in  all  probability,  be  very  different  from 
what  it  is.  It  is  to  the  good  you  are  indebted  for 
your  greatest  privileges  and  your  richest  blessings.  How 
deeply  are  we  impressed  with  the  obligations  we  are  under 
to  the  good  Christian  friends  under  whose  good  influences 
we  were  thrown,  and  thus  saved  !  Among  those  gathered 
into  the  fold  of  Christ  in  our  late  revival,  there  was  one, 
whose  father  we  well  knew,  and  whom  we  regarded  as  a 
good  man,  and  an  humble  and  faithful  minister  of  Christ. 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTER.  280 

In  thinking  about  the  conversion  of  his  son  we  were  im- 
pressed with  the  thought  that  perhaps  that  father's  holy 
influence  is  now  bearing  the  fruit  of  his  son's  conversion. 
The  influence  of  a  good  and  holy  life  often  continues  after 
the  death  of  the  good.  Let  us  say  to  you,  honor  and 
respect  the  good.  They  are  your  best  friends  and  bene- 
factors. Above  all,  honor  and  respect  God,  who  has  blessed 
us  with  the  influence  of  the  good. 

IV.      THE  FORMATION  OF  TRUE  MEN. 

While  the  state  of  man,  in  his  guilty  and  fallen  condition, 
is  sad  to  contemplate,  Ave  are  glad  to  know  that  that  condition 
may  be  improved.  God  has  remembered  us  in  our  low  estate, 
and  laid  hold  upon  one  that  is  mighty.  And  by  availing 
ourselves  of  the  provision  provided  for  us  in  Christ  by  our 
Heavenly  Father,  our  lost  manhood  may  be  recovered.  By 
"being  born  again,  not  of  corruptible  seed,  but  of  incor- 
corruptible,  by  the  Word  of  God,  which  liveLh  and  abideth 
forever"  (I  Pet.  1 :  23),  we  are  made  partakers  of  the  divine 
nature  "  (2  Pet.  1 :4),  and  thus  become  men  of  God.  There 
is,  then,  hope  for  man,  Jesus  has  died,  and  man  may  live, 
and  live  forever.  Paul,  in  addressing  believers,  says  "  Ye 
are  God's  husbandry,  ye  are  God's  building."  (1  Cor.  3 :  9.) 
Under  the  transforming  power  of  God,  the  barren  land  be- 
comes fruitful,  and  the  temple  in  ruins  is  rebuilt. 

And  now,  beloved  hearers,  will  you  not  all  seek  to  become 
true  men,  that  you  ma}'^  enjoy  the  honor,  glory,  and  value 
of  true  manhood  ?  Surely  you  all  should  feel  a  deep  interest 
in  our  subject,  as  it  concerns  you  all.  Young  women  and 
young  men,  let  us  say  to  you,  seek  the  culture  and  develop- 
ment of  your  womanhood  and  manhood  to  the  highest 
possible  degree.  And  while,  we  would,  from  the  great 
importance  of  our  subject,  press  it  upon  you  all,  we  would 
call  the  special  attention  of  the  graduating  class  to  it.  By 
no  means  let  your  education  and  culture  stop  short  of  true 


290  SERMONS   OP 

manhood.  It  is  the  cultivated  and  renewed  mind  that  makes 
the  man.  Dr.  Watts,  the  author  of  many  of  our  hymns,  was 
dignified  in  his  conduct  and  manners,  but  below  the  com- 
mon size  of  men  in  his  stature.  On  one  occasion  when  he 
was  in  compan}^  it  was  said  by  one,  "  Is  this  the  ^reat  Dr. 
Watts?"  In  good  humor  he  turned  round  suddenly,  and 
repeated  the  following  stanza  from  one  of  his  poems : 

"Were  I  so  tall  to  reach  the  pole, 
Or  grasp  the  ocean  with  a  span^ 
I  must  be  measured  by  my  soul; 
The  mind's  the  standard  of  the  man." 

The  company  manifested  silent  admiration. 

Let  us  then  give  less  attention  to  the  adornment  and 
gratification  of  the  body,  and  more  to  the  mental  and 
spiritual  culture  of  the  mind,  as  it  is  the  mind  that  makes 
the  man. 


XXV. 

THE  KELATION  OF  CHRIST'S  RESURRECTION  TO 

THE  CHRISTIAN'S  HOPE. 


EASTER    SERMON. 

"Blessed  be  the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  which  according  to  his  abundant  mercy  hath  begotten 
us  again  unto  a  lively  hope  by  the  resurrection  of  Jesus 
Christ  from  the  dead,  to  an  inheritance  incorruptible,  unde- 
filed,  and  that  fadeth  not  away,  reserved  in  heaven  for  vou." — • 
i  Peter,  1  :  3  4. 

Among  the  ideas  contained  in  the  text  is  the  idea  that 
there  is  a  relation  between  the  resurrection  of  Christ,  and 
the  Christian's  hope.  And  this  will  be  a  prominent  point  in 
our  remarks,  and  the  subject  of  our  present  discourse.     We 


ELDER  JAMES  QUINTER.  291 

can  bring  out  this  evening  but  a  few  of  the  ideas  contained 
in  this  suggestive  text.     We  shall  notice  the  following : 

1.  The  second^  or  the  new  hirth. 

2.  Unto  what  Christians  are  said  to  be  begotten. 

3.  TFAy  Christians  are  said  to  he  begotten  by  the  resur- 
rection of  Christ. 

1.     The  second,  or  the  new  birth. 

God,  wliom  the  apostle  calls  in  our  text,  "  The  God  and 
father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  is  said  to  have  "  begotten 
us  again."  Ao:ain  means  another  time,  or  once  more.  And 
when  God  is  said  to  have  begotten  us  again,  the  language 
implies  that  he  had  begotten  us  before.  And  so  he  had,  for 
he  is  the  Father  of  us  all  by  nature.  The  prophet  asks, 
"  Have  we  not  all  one  Father  ?  Hath  not  one  God  created 
us?"  "  (Malachi  2:  10.)  And  the  apostle  Paul  declared  that 
God  "hath  made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men  for 
to  dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the  earth."  (Acts  17  :  26.)  He 
is  also  said  to  be  "the  God  of  the  spirits  of  all  flesh." 
(Num.  16  :  22.)  But  while  all  men  are  the  children  of  God, 
they  have,  by  following  their  own  evil  ways,  became  dis- 
obedient to  him,  and  alienated  from  him.  And  the  foUowmg 
language  of  complaint  uttered  by  the  Lord  in  reference  to 
the  Israelites,  will  express  the  moral  or  sipritual  state  of  all 
men  who  have  not  been  begotten  again :  "  Hear,  O  heavens, 
and  give  ear,  O  earth  :  for  the  Lord  hath  spoken,  I  have 
nourished  and  brought  up  children,  and  they  have  rebelled 
against  me.  The  ox  knoweth  his  owner,  and  the  ass  his 
master's  crib ;  but  Israel  doth  not  know,  my  people  doth  not 
consider.  Ah,  sinful  nation,  a  people  laden  with  iniquity,  a 
seed  of  evil  doers,  children  that  are  corrupters :  they  have 
forsaken  the  Lord,  they  have  provoked  the  Holy  One  of 
Israel  unto  anger,  they  have  gone  away  backward."  (Isa. 
1 :  2-4.)  What  a  sad  picture  of  children  who  have  such  a 
kind  father  as   God   is!      But    it    is  a  true    picture.     It 


292  SERMONS    OP 

is  confirmed  by  the  deciaration  of  Paul,  which  seems 
to  be  applied  to  all  persons  who  are  not  begotten  again ; 
"  the  carnal  mind  is  enmity  against  God :  for  it  is  not  subject 
to  the  law  of  God,  neither  indeed  can  be."  (Rom.  8:  7.) 
Such  being  the  condition  of  God's  human  family  by  nature, 
he  can  not  take  the  pleasure  in  them,  and  admit  them  to 
that  intimate  friendship  and  familiarity  with  him,  that  he 
as  a  loving  and  kind  father  would  like  to  do.  He  is  pure  and 
holy  and  can  not  take  sinners  into  fellowship  with  him,  though 
they  be  his  own  children.  Hence  the  necessity  of  men  and 
women  in  their  natural  condition  being  "begotten  again." 
Our  kind  and  merciful  Father,  instead  of  forever  casting  off 
or  blotting  out  of  existence  his  rebellious  children,  has  made 
provision  through  Christ  to  have  them  "begotten  again." 
Our  heavenly  Father  has  done  for  his  rebeUious  children  in 
reference  to  their  spiritual  state  what  earthly  fathers  often 
do  for  their  sons  in  reference  to  financial  affairs.  Young 
men  who  start  out  in  business  through  idleness,  extrava- 
gance, intemperate  habits,  or  mismanagement,  sometimes 
fail  in  business  and  become  bankrupt.  Their  fathers,  when 
they  can  do  so,  and  when  they  are  inclined  to  do  so,  pay 
their  debts  and  start  them  in  business  again,  and  put  them 
where  they  were  when  they  firsi  started  out  in  life.  So 
when  men,  the  children  of  God,  had  failed  in  life's  great 
work,  and  had  become  involved  in  debt  and  spiritual  bank- 
ruptcy, God  made  provision  through  Christ  to  pay  men's 
debts,  or,  in  other  words,  to  forgive  their  sins  and  to  start 
them  in  life  again  with  every  chance  of  success.  All  this, 
and  more  too,  is  implied  in  being  "  begotten  again." 

Though  our  text  has  a  very  plain  and  interesting  allu- 
sion to  the  new  birth,  it  does  not  state  positively  the  neces- 
sity of  being  begotten  again,  but  rather  the  result  of  such 
a  change.  It  is,  however,  evidently  implied  that  there  is  a 
necessitv  for  being  "  begotten  again."    When  the  same  sub- 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTEE.  293 

ject  was  presented  by  Christ  to  Nicodemus,  the  absolute 
necessity  of  being  "begotten  again"  was  declared  by  Christ. 
"  Yerily,  verily,  I  say  unto  thee,"  said  our  Lord,  "except  a 
man  be  born  again,  he  can  not  see  the  kingdom  of  God." 
John  3  :  3.  And  again  :  "  Yerily,  verily,  I  say  unto  thee, 
except  a  man  be  born  of  water  and  of  the  spirit,  he  can  not 
enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God,"  verse  5.  But  as  the  neces- 
sity of  being  "  begotten  again  "  is  not  made  a  point  in  our 
text  except  b}^  implication,  we  shall  not  dwell  upon  that 
aspect  of  the  new  birth  further.  We  would  remark  that  as 
we  have  the  same  subject  presented  in  different  places  in 
the  Scriptures,  we  have  it  presented  sometimes  under  one 
aspect,  and  sometimes  under  another.  This  applies  to  all 
subjects. 

The  possibility  that  we  may  be  "  begotten  again,"  and 
that  "  unto  a  lively  hope,"  and  thus  have  all  our  former  life, 
with  all  its  defects,  with  all  its  dark  spots  and  crimes,  blot- 
ted out,  and  be  as  free  from  sin  as  the  new-born  babe,  and 
begin  our  spiritual  career  anew,  is  a  most  encouraging 
thought.  And  all  persons  should  gladly  avail  themselves 
of  the  opportunity  presented  to  them  in  the  gospel  of  ex- 
periencing this  new  birth  with  all  its  advantages  and  enjoy- 
ments. 

2.  Unto  what  Christians  are  said  to  he  "  begotten  again.'''' 
We  are  said  to  be  "  begotten  again  unto  a  lively  hope." 
When  a  man  is  born  again,  or  "  begotten  again,"  in  the  words 
of  our  text,  and  has  experienced  the  change  which  the 
idea  of  a  new  birth  implies,  and  has  passed  from  a  state  of 
spiritual  darkness,  and  ignorance,  and  death,  to  a  state  of 
marvelous  light,  wisdom  and  life,  and  walks  by  faith,  and 
lives  by  faith,  believing  all  that  is  contained  in  the  Script- 
ures, whether  it  be  in  the  form  of  doctrine,  precepts,  com- 
mandments, or  promises,  he  has  a  great  future  before  him. 
His  faith  scans  the  developing  events  and  the  successive 


294  SERMONS   OF 

steps  of  his  endless  career  as  far  as  the  Scriptures  reveal 
that  career,  and  his  present  capacity  for  spiritual  discern- 
ment will  enable  him  to  do  so.  Surely  he  is  begotten  "unto 
a  lively  hope,"  when  his  new  birth  into  a  spiritual  life 
secures  to  him  the  hope  of  the  Gospel,  with  the  number,  the 
magnitude,  and  the  endless  unfolding  of  new  scenes  in  the 
happy  eternity  of  the  future. 

How  different  is  a  birth  into  the  world  according  to 
nature,  in  reference  to  the  prospect  before  it,  to  what  is  a 
second  or  new  birth — the  birth  by  which  we  are  begotten 
unto  the  lively  hope  of  Christianity.  When  an  infant  is 
born  into  the  world,  could  it  behold  and  comprehend  its 
future,  should  it  reach  maturity,  and  should  its  future  extend 
to  the  final  state  or  doom  of  the  lost,  what  a  terrible  state 
would  it  be  to  behold  and  to  contemplate !  The  very  pros- 
pect of  it  would  be  most  tormenting.  But  when  a  soul  is 
"  begotten  again,"  and  it  takes  a  survey  of  its  future — such 
a  future  as  we  have  already  alluded  to — how  glorious  is  the 
view.  In  our  first  or  natural  birth,  "man  is  born  unto 
trouble,  as  the  sparks  fly  upward." — Job  v.  T.  But  in  our 
second  or  spiritual  birth,  we  are  begotten  unto  a  "lively 
hope,"  and  unto  "  an  inheritance  incorruptible  and  undefiled, 
and  that  fadeth  not  away." 

But  we  are  not  only  informed  in  our  text  that  we  are 
begotten  unto  a  "  lively  hope,"  but  we  are  also  informed 
what  that  hope  consists  of.  It  is  "an  inheritance  incorrupti- 
ble and  undefiled,  that  fadeth  not  away,  reserved  in  heaven." 
We  are  begotten  unto  an  inheritance — born  to  an  estate. 
We  become  sons,  and  consequently  heirs,  of  a  rich  father, 
the  proprietor  of  heaven  and  earth.  We  call  your  attention 
to  the  fact  that  the  Christian's  hope,  or  what  constitutes  that 
hope,  is  called  an  "  inheritance."  An  inheritance  is  some- 
thing that  is  not  purchased  with  money,  or  obtained  as  a 
reward  of  labor.   Webster,  in  giving  the  meaning  of  inherit- 


ELDER  JAMES  QUINTER.  295 

ance  in  law,  thus  defines :  "A  perpetual  or  continuing  right 
to  an  estate  in  a  man  and  his  heirs ;  an  estate  which  a  man 
has  by  descent  as  heir  to  another,  or  which  he  may  transmit 
to  anotiier  as  his  heir ;  an  estate  derived  from  an  ancestor 
to  an  heir  in  course  of  law."  So  the  inheritance  of  the 
children  of  God  is  given  to  them  as  a  legacy  from  their 
divine  Father.  You  will  notice  that  it  is  said  in  our  text 
that  it  is  according  to  his  "abundant  mercy  "  that  God  has 
begotten  us  again.  Mercy  was  the  moving  cause  of  man's 
redemption,  or  of  God's  work  for  redeeming  man.  Though 
we  are  created  unto  good  works,  as  Paul  says,  "  For  we  are 
his  workmanship,  created  in  Christ  Jesus  unto  good  works 
which  God  hath  before  ordained  that  we  should  walk  in 
them"  (Eph.  ii.  10) ;  and  though  we  are  to  wash  the  saints' 
feet,  and  "diligently  follow  every  good  work  "  (1  Tim.  v.  10 
still  b}^  grace  we  are  saved. — Eph,  ii.  8. 

There  is  another  interesting  thought  suggested  by  this 
inheritance.  It  is  the  security  of  the  tenure  by  which  it 
is  held.  It  is  well  known  that  there  is  no  right  that 
it  is  more  difficult  to  break,  than  the  right  to  an  inher- 
itance. Indeed  it  can  not  be  broken  if  it  is  legal.  If  the 
right  of  him  that  gives  the  property  is  good,  and  he  makes 
a  good  title  to  him  on  whom  it  is  conferred,  the  title  of  the 
latter  is  indisputable.  This  inheritance  is  "  reserved  in 
heaven,"  for  those  who  are  "  begotten  again  to  a  lively  hope," 
And  those  who  are  thus  begotten,  and  continue  faithful, 
"  are  kept  by  the  power  of  God  through  faith."  So  we  can 
make  our  "  calling  and  election  sure."     2  Pet.  1  :  10. 

In  the  description  we  have  of  the  inheritance,  which  con- 
stitutes the  sum  of  the  hope  to  which  we  are  begotten,  it  is  first 
declared  to  be  "  incorruptible."  This  means  that  it  is  inca- 
pable of  decay  or  dissolution.  Hence  it  is  called  "  the  ever- 
lasting kingdom."  2  Peter  1  :  11.  The  new  heavens  and 
the  new  earth  that  are  to  be  formed,  and  which  are  to  con- 


296  SERMONS    OF 

stitute  at  least  a  part  of  the  inheritance  of  the  saints,  will 
not  be  susceptible  of  the  change  and  decay  that  the  present 
earth  with  its  surroundings  is.  Our  earth  was  once 
destroyed  by  water,  and  is  now  "  reserved  unto  fire."  2 
Peter  3  :  7.  It  is  corruptible  and  subject  to  change  and  decay. 
But  the  inheritance  of  the  saints  shall  be  imperishable  and 
unchano^eable.  It  will  forever  retain  all  its  freshness  and 
beauty  that  it  possesses  in  the  beginning. 

And,  secondly,  it  is  said  to  be  unfading,  or  that  it  will 
not  fade  away.  Jhis  allusion  may  be  to  fading  flowers. 
How  soon  the  most  beautiful  flowers  wither  and  fade  away ! 
But  in  the  inheritance  of  the  saints,  whatever  beauty,  and 
glory  and  vigor  that  are  possessed  at  first,  will  continue 
forever. 

"  There  everlasting  spring  abides, 
And  never  withering  flowers." 

There  is  another  idea  suggesied  by  the  unfading  nature 
of  the  beauty  and  glory  of  the  inheritance  of  the  good. 
And  that  is  the  idea  that  that  beauty  and  glory  will  never  lose 
their  charms  to  the  good,  or  never  cloy  upon  their  spiritual 
tastes.  Here  on  earth,  the  things  that  are  the  most  beauti- 
ful, and  that  give  the  most  enjoyment,  in  time  lose  their 
effects  in  some  measure,  and  we  get  tired  of  beholding  them. 
Our  great  and  long  familiarity  with  them  diminishes  our 
joy  in  them.  But  this  will  not  be  the  case  with  the 
unfading  charms  of  the  musical  sounds,  and  of  the  beautiful 
sigiits  that  will  greet  our  ears  and  eyes  "  in  the  sweet  fields 
of  Eden." 

And,  in  the  third  place,  this  inheritance  is  declared  to  be 
undefiled.  We  have  left  this  to  the  last,  though  we  regard 
it  as  the  most  precious  characteristic  of  the  saints'  inheritance. 
To  a  mind  that  is  full  of  sympathy  with  holy  beings  and 
holy  principles,  among  all  the  beautiful  things  said  of 
heaven,  nothing  will  commend  heaven  to  it  more  highly,  than 


ELDER    JAMES    QUINTER,  297 

the  fact  that  it  is  undefiled.     When  we  read  the   glowing 

description  of  the   holy   Jerusalem  in   the   21st    chapter  of 

Revelation,   of  its    foundations   "garnished   with   precious 

stones,"  of  its  pearly  gates,  and  of  the  city  being  of  pure  gold? 

like  unto  clear  glass,  how  precious  does  that  city   appear ! 

But  when  we  approach  the  close  of  the  description,  and  read 

that  "  there  shall  in  no  wise  enter  into  it  anything  that  defil- 

eth,  neither  whatsoever  worketh   abomination,   or   maketh 

a  lie,"  this  is  the  climax  of  its  excellency,  and  we  are  "  lost  in 

wonder,  love   and  praise"  to  think  that  in  that  city  into 

which  no  evil  can  ever  enter,  we  may  have  an  inheritance! 

Oh,  sin  is  such  a  terrible   thing!     Whatever  it   touches,  it 

defiles,  and  whatever  it  defiles  it  injures,  and   to  the  extent 

of  the  defilement  it  kills.     Christian  brethren  and  sisters,  go 

back    to   your  first  love,  to  the  time  you  were  "  begotten 

again."     And  in  your  great  joy  you  can  sing  with  the  poet: 

"  I  would  not  believe  that  I  ever  should  grieve, 
That  I  ever  should  suffer  again." 

But  temptation  came  in  some  form,  and  not  being  on 
your  guard,  you  yielded,  and  as  soon  as  you  did  so,  your 
peace  was  disturbed  and  your  joy  diminished.  Often  the 
family  circle  has  been  the  home  of  peace  and  domestic  joy, 
but  the  tempter  found  admission,  and  sin  was  introduced  in 
some  of  its  forms,  and  it  is  no  longer  the  home  of  peace,  love 
and  prosperity,  for  the  enemy,  who  is  ever  watching  for  an 
opportunity  to  do  evil,  found  a  place  to  sow  discord,  enmity, 
jealousy,  or  some  other  form  of  evil,  and  in  the  same  manner 
is  the  peace  of  the  church  disturbed,  and  its  usefulness 
diminished.  Oh,  how  comforting  the  thought  that  we  shall 
one  day  possess  our  inheritance,  and  be  where  sin  can  never 
defile  us. 

3.  Whi/  Christians  are  said  to  he  hegotten  hy  the  resurrec- 
tion of  Christ. 

1 .  The  resurrection  of  Christ  proved   the  truth  of  his 


298  SERMONS    OF 

mission  and  the  justice  of  his  claims  to  the  Messiahship.  He 
claimed  to  be  the  Messiah  and  the  Son  of  Grod,  and  that  God 
had  sent  him.  One  of  the  ways  in  which  his  claim  was  to 
be  proved  was  by  miracles.  Hence  he  did  many  miracles. 
He  raised  the  dead  to  life,  and  did  many  marvelous  works. 
His  faithful  reproofs  of  sin  in  the  various  forms  in  which 
it  existed,  and  his  exposure  of  the  cold  formality  of  the  relig- 
ionists of  his  time,  and  his  attempts  to  introduce  a  new 
order  of  things  in  the  religious  world,  an  order  of  things 
that  would  render  justice  to  all,  to  the  poor  as  well  as  to  the 
rich,  and  to  God  as  well  as  to  man,  offended  the  people. 
They  laid  plans  for  his  death,  and  those  plans  finally  suc- 
ceeded. And  the  blessed  Saviour,  with  his  heart  full  of  love 
to  man,  and  with  an  unsurpassed  disinterestedness,  and  with  a 
self-denying  spirit,  that  led  him  to  seek  the  good  of  others 
rather  than  his  own,  was  condemned  to  death,  and  met  it  in 
the  form  of  the  ignominious  crucifixion.  He  was  taken  by  his 
friends  and  buried  in  Joseph's  tomb.  You  will  remember 
what  precautionary  measures  were  taken  by  those  in  author- 
ity to  guard  this  grave.  But  notwithstanding  all  the  efforts 
made  by  his  enemies  to  prevent  his  prophecy  in  regard  to 
his  resurrection  from  being  fulfilled,  he  rose  the  third  day. 

His  resurrection  was  then,  and  that,  very  properly  and 
justly,  made  the  ground  of  argument,  and  of  unanswerable 
argument  for  the  divine  mission  of  Christ,  and  for  the  divine 
character  and  authority  of  his  teaching.  His  resurrection  was 
attributed  to  the  interposition  and  power  of  God.  This  was 
done  to  prove  that  God  vindicated  and  approved  of  Christ,  and 
of  all  he  said  and  did.  It  is  true,  the  Saviour  said  in  regard  to 
his  life  which  he  gave  as  a  ransom  for  sinners,  "  No  man 
taketh  it  from  me,  but  I  lay  it  down  of  myself.  I  have 
power  to  lay  it  down,  and  I  have  power  to  take  it  again.' 
This  commandment  have  I  received  of  my  Father."  (John 
10 :  18.)     It  will  be  seen  from  his  language  that  while  he 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTER,  299 

claimed  the  power  to  take  up  his  life,  he  acted  under  the 
authority  in  doing  so.  Then  in  doing  what  he  did,  he  acted 
under  the  power  and  authority  of  his  Father.  Hence,  as  we 
have  already  remarked,  his  resurrection  is  attributed  to  the 
power  of  God.  When  Peter  was  vindicating  the  cause 
of  Christ,  in  reference  to  the  healing  of  the  lame  man  that 
was  laid  at  the  gate  of  the  temple,  he  said,  "  Be  it  known 
unto  you  all,  and  to  all  the  people  of  Israel,  that  by  the 
name  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Nazareth,  whom  ye  crucified,  whom 
God  raised  from  the  dead,  even  by  him  doth  this  man  stand 
here  before  you  whole."     (Acts  4 :  10.) 

In  order  that  we  mav  understand  clearly  the  relation 
between  Christ's  resurrection  and  the  Christian's  hope,  and 
new  life,  we  must  keep  in  mind  the  relation  between  faith 
and  the  Christian's  hope  and  conversion.  This  relation  or 
connection  is  plain,  and  frequently  stated  in  the  Scriptures. 
We  have  it  in  these  words  of  John  :  "  Whosoever  believeth 
that  Jesus  is  the  Christ  is  born  of  God."  (I  John  5:  1.) 
We  then  are  to  believe  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ,  the  Son  of 
God.  But  we  must  have  testimony  to  believe  any  truth  or 
fact.  And  what  testimony  have  we  that  is  sufficient  to  prove 
that  Jesus  is  the  Son  of  God?  We  have  such  testimony  in 
the  fact  of  Christ's  resurrection.  Hence  the  connectino-  link, 
or  the  relation  between  Christ's  resurrection  and  the  new 
birth  of  the  Christian.  This  relation  is  seen  in  other  wavs, 
but  we  can  only  at  this  time  present  the  great  gospel  fact  of 
Christ's  resurrection,  as  proper  ground  and  conclusive  argu- 
ment for  belief  in  him.  And  everything  that  promotes 
belief  in  Christ  has  an  important  relation  to,  and  bearing 
upon,  the  new  birth.  Christian  life  and  Christian  hope. 

In  view  of  the  important  relation  that  Christ's  resurrec- 
tion has  to  the  conversion  and  regeneration  of  sinners,  his 
resurrection  was  made  an  important  part  in  apostolic  preach- 
ing.   And  when  the  apostles  were  consulting  about  filling 


300  SERMONS   OF 

the  place  of  Judas,  Peter  said,  "  of  these  men  which  have 
companied  with  us  all  the  time  the  Lord  Jesus  went  in  and 
out  among  us,  beginning  from  the  baptism  of  John,  and  that 
same  day  that  he  was  taken  up  from  us,  must  one  be 
ordained  to  be  a  witness  with  us  of  his  resurrection."  (Acts 
1 :  21-22.)  And  Paul's  language  to  the  Corinthians  shows 
what  use  was  made  of  Chrisfs  resurrection  by  the  apostles 
in  establishing  Christianity,  and  in  the  conversion  of  sinners. 
He  says,  "  I  delivered  unto  you  first  of  all  that  which  I  also 
received,  how  that  Christ  died  for  our  sins  according  to  the 
Scriptures ;  and  that  he  was  buried,  and  that  he  rose  again 
the  third  day  according  to  the  Scriptures;  and  that  he  was 
seen  of  Cephas,  then  of  the  twelve,"  etc.  (I  Cor.  15:  3-5.) 
The  fact  of  Christ's  resurrection  was  among  the  first  things 
preached  to  people  to  win  them  to  Christ.  The  relation  of 
Christ's  resurrection  to  Christian  belief,  is  clearly  seen  in 
Paul's  preaching  at  Athens.  In  referring  to  God,  he  declares, 
"he  hath  appointed  a  day,  in  the  which  he  will  judge  the 
world  in  righteousness  by  that  man  whom  he  hath  ordained; 
whereof  he  hath  given  assurance  unto  all  men,  in  that  he 
hath  raised  him  from  the  dead."  (Acts  17:  31.)  Instead  of 
the  phrase,"  he  hath  given  assurance,"  the  marginal  reading 
is,  "he  hath  offered  faith."  That  is,  God  by  raising  Christ 
from  the  dead,  has  offered  to  men  sufficient  ground  for 
belief  in  him. 

We  that  are  living  in  this  age  of  the  world,  when 
Christianity  is  so  well  established,  and  among  people  who 
generally  believe  in  its  Divine  character,  seeing  as  they  do 
so  much  that  is  ffood  in  it,  and  that  is  calculated  to  meet  the 
wants  of  suffering  and  guilty  humanity,  can  not  appreciate 
the  moral  power  of  the  great  fact  of  Christ's  resurrection, 
like  those  could  who  lived  in  the  age  of  the  world  in  which 
Christianity  was  planted.  Let  us  imagine  the  apostle  Peter 
preaching,  and  one  of  us  as  a  hearer,  and  that  that  one  of  us 


ELDER    JAMES    QLINTER.  3Ul 

was  as  ignorant  of  divine  things  as  the  people  of  the  apostolic 
age  generally  were.  That  hearer  becomes  interested  in  the 
great,  practical,  and  diversified  subjects  presented  in  the 
preaching  of  Peter.  He  approaches  Peter,  and  says  to  him 
"I  am  interested  in  your  preaching.  If  what  you  say  is 
true,  I  am  a  lost  man,  and  I  ought  to  change  my  life.  How 
do  you  know  that  the  Christ  you  preach  was  a  divine  being 
and  teacher?"  Peter  replies  to  him  in  language  something 
like  the  following:  "We  knew  him  personally,  and  we 
knew  him  well.  We,  early  in  his  ministry,  became  his  dis- 
ciples. We  were  with  him  about  three  years.  We  saw 
many  of  the  marvelous  and  supernatural  works  that  he  did. 
We  finally  saw  him  crucified,  and  we  know  that  he  was 
dead.  He  was  then  buried.  But  he  rose  from  the  dead. 
And  we  associated  with  him  after  his  death,  and  know,  and 
are  assured  be\'ond  a  doubt,  that  he  was  restored  to  life,  and 
we  therefore  must  believe,  and  do  believe  that  he  was  a 
divine  teacher,  and  that  all  that  he  taught  is  true." 

Under  such  circumstances  the  preaching  of  Clirist's 
resurrection  would  have  much  to  do  in  leading  men  to 
believe.  And  many  would  say  in  the  language  of  our  text, 
"  Blessed  be  the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
which,  according  to  his  abundant  merc}^  hath  begotten  us 
again  unto  a  lively  hope  by  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ 
from  the  dead,"  etc. 

And  now,  dear  readers,  as  Christ  is  risen,  Christianity  is 
true.  And  because  it  is  true,  it  commends  itself  to  your 
belief,  and  because  it  will  regenerate  you,  and  give  you  a 
"lively  hope"  and  a  glorious  "inheritance,"  it  commends 
itself  to  your  immediate  acceptance. 


302  SERMOKS   OF 

XXVL 

SOME  OF  THE  SPIKITUAL  LESSONS  TAUGHT  BY 

SPRING. 

"Thou  renewest  the  face  of  the  earth."— Ps.  lOi:  30. 

The  Psalmist,  in  the  psalm  from  which  our  text  is  quoted, 
has  said  many  interesting  things  in  regard  to  the  ample  pro- 
vision that  God  has  made  to  meet  the  wants  of  his  creatures, 
both  of  the  lower  and  higher  order.  And  in  setting  forth 
the  sovereign  power  of  God  exercised  over  the  entire  domin- 
ion of  being,  the  Psalmist  in  adoring  the  greatness  and 
goodness  of  God,  says,  "  Thou  renewest  the  face  of  the 
earth."  That  Spring  is  referred  to  here,  there  can  be  no 
reasonable  doubt.  And  the  term  used  to  express  tiie  change 
that  takes  place  when  the  dominion  of  winter  over  the 
earth  ceases,  and  when  Spring  follows  with  its  peculiar 
effects  upon  the  earth,  is  a  term  used  to  express  the  spiritual 
change  that  takes  place  in  the  conversion  of  sinners.  This 
change  is  a  renewing  of  the  mind.  "  And  be  not  conformed 
to  this  world ;  but  be  ye  transformed  by  the  renewing  of 
your  mind,  that  ye  may  prove  what  is  tliat  good,  and 
acceptable,  and  perfect  will  of  God."     Eom.  12 :  2. 

The  works  of  God  are  frequentl}'  referred  to  in  the 
Scripture  as  teaching  us  things  concerning  his  character  or 
doings.  The  language  of  the  nineteenth  Psalm  is  familiar 
to  you  all.  We  refer  to  the  following:  "The  heavens 
declare  the  glory  of  God;  and  the  firmament  sheweth  his 
handiwork.  Day  unto  day  uttereth  speech,  and  night 
unto  night  sheweth  knowledge."  But  it  is  not  only  the 
heavens  that  declare  the  glory  of  God ;  the  earth  does  the 
same.  "Thou  renewest  the  face  of  the  earth."  The 
annual  return  of  Spring,  with  all  the  blessings  which  it 
introduces,  and  the  diversity  of  seasons  which  contributes 
so  materially  to  the  enjoyment  and  welfare  of  man,  these 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTER.  303 

also  declare  the  glory  of  God,  or  his  goodness,  for  his  glory 
is  his  goodness.  The  young  Elihu,  one  of  the  characters  of 
the  book  of  Job,  in  his  zeal  to  defend  the  character  of  God, 
gives  us  to  understand  that  he  endeavored  to  learn  from  the 
providence  of  God.  His  language  is:  "I  said,  days  should 
speak,  and  multitude  of  years  should  teach  wisdom."' 
Job  32 : 7.  And  Job,  in  speaking  to  his  friends  rather 
reprovingly,  admonished  them  thus :  "  Speak  to  the  earth, 
and  it  shall  teach  thee ;  and  the  fishes  of  the  sea  shall 
declare  unto  thee.  Who  knoweth  not  in  all  these  that  the 
hand  of  the  Lord  hath  wrought  this  ?  "  Job  12  :  8,  9.  The 
Spring,  as  well  as  nature  in  all  its  diversified  forms,  teaches 
us  lessons  of  both  the  natural  and  the  redemptive  providence 
of  God.  By  the  redemptive  providence  of  God  we  mean 
his  goodness,  wisdom  and  power  as  manifested  in  the  works 
of  redemption. 

We  shall  look  at  Spring  as  a  powerful  confirmation 
of  the  Scriptural  character  of  God.  1.  It  is  a  confirma- 
tion of  his  faithfulness  or  truthfulness.  Soon  after  the 
flood,  the  Lord  said  :  "  While  the  earth  remaineth,  seedtime 
and  harvest,  and  cold  and  heat,  and  summer  and  winter, 
and  day  and  night  shall  not  cease."  Gen.  8 :  22.  From 
this  we  learn  that  the  course  of  nature  shall  continue  v/hile 
the  earth  continues.  It  seems  to  be  intimated  here  that 
this  earth  is  not  to  continue  always.  And  this  intimation 
agrees  with  the  apostle  Peter,  who  declares  that  "  the  earth 
also  and  the  works  that  are  therein  shall  be  burned  up." 
2  Peter  3  :  10.  Though  the  earth  may  not  continue  always, 
we  are  assured  that  while  it  does  continue  God  will  care- 
fully preserve  the  regular  succession  of  times  and  seasons. 
These  seasons  have  never  ceased,  and  they  will  never  cease 
until  the  present  general  course  of  nature  ceases.  There 
is  a  wonderful  change  in  things  taking  place  continually 
around    us,  but   the  seasons  continue,  and  have  continued' 


304  SERMONS    OF 

since  this  promise  was  made,  and  this  was  made  some  four 
thousand  vears  ago.  And  the  return  of  Spring  every  year 
for  four  thousand  years  has  been  a  witness  to  the  truthful- 
ness of  God's  promise. 

This  promise  of  God  that  summer  and  winter,  and  day 
and  night  shall  not  cease,  is  called  God's  covenant  of  the  day 
and  of  the  nighty  Jer.  33 :  20,  and  it  is  mentioned  by  the 
prophet  to  show  that  his  covenant  of  grace  is  as  sure  as  his 
covenant  concerning  day  and  night,  and  summer  and  win- 
ter. His  promises  to  his  creatures  can  not  fail,  and  much  less 
will  his  promises  to  believers  fail.  "  He  is  faithful  that  prom- 
ised." Heb.  10 :  23.  "All  the  promises  of  God  in  him  are 
yea,  and  in  him  Amen,  unto  the.  glory  of  God  by  us."  2 
Cor.  1 :  20.  With  what  trust  and  confidence,  then,  may  we 
all  believe  in  Christ.  "  He  that  believeth  and  is  baptized 
shall  be  saved  ;  but  he  that  believeth  not  shall  be  damned." 
Mark  16 :  16. 

2.  The  annual  return  of  Spring  is  not  only  a  confirma- 
tion of  the  truthfulness  of  God,  but  it  is  also  a  confirmation 
of  his  power.  The  power  of  God  is  very  clearly  manifested 
in  the  creation.  "Thou  hast  made  the  heaven  and  the  earth 
by  thy  great  power  and  stretched  out  arm,  and  there  is 
nothing  too  hard  for  thee."  Jer.  32 :  IT.  When  we  con- 
sider the  greatness  and  the  number  of  the  works  of  God,  we 
are  impressed  with  the  greatness  of  his  power  by  the  exer- 
cise of  which  all  things  that  exist  are  created.  And  were 
we  to  see  new  additions  made  to  his  works  in  the  creation 
of  new  worlds,  we  would  be  deeply  impressed  with  the 
power  that  would  produce  them.  But  is  not  the  renewing 
of  the  face  of  the  earth  every  year  equivalent  to  a  new  cre- 
ation? In  the  dreary  and  cold  winter  nature  seems  dead. 
But  there  is  a  secret  power  at  work,  a  power  proceeding 
from  God,  and  that  power  in  the  seeds  of  the  earth  and  in 
the  various  parts  of  the  vegetable  kingdom  renews  the  face 


ELDER   JAJVIES   QUINTER.  305 

of  the  earth,  and  a  change  follows  which  is  almost  like  a 
new  creation.  And  herein  is  manifested  the  power  of  God. 
And  all  the  power  of  God  that  is  exerted  in  the  natural 
world  to  further  his  purposes  in  that  department  of  his 
works  is  also  exerted  in  the  spiritual  world  to  further  his 
purposes  in  the  work  of  redemption.  And  hence  Abraham 
was  "  fully  persuaded  that  what  he  had  promised  he  was 
able  also  to  perform."  Rom.  4  :  21.  And  having  confidence 
in  both  the  truthfulness  and  the  power  of  God,  as  we  may 
have,  and  as  we  should  have,  for  he  is  a  God  of  power  and 
of  truth,  we  may  trust  in  him  and  feel  perfectly  safe  in  his 
hands.  Hence  Paul  could  say,  and  every  believer  can  say 
the  same,  "I  know  whom  I  have  believed,  and  am  persuaded 
that  he  is  able  to  keep  that  which  I  have  committed  to  him 
against  that  day.""     2  Tim.  1 :  12. 

3.  The  renewing  of  the  face  of  the  earth  in  the  Spring 
by  the  Lord  should  teach  us  and  impress  upon  our  minds 
the  great  truth  that  he  is  the  fountain  of  all  life.  Such  he 
is  justly  declared  to  be.  "With  thee,"  said  David,  address, 
ing  the  Lord,  "is  the  fountain  of  life."  Ps.  36:  9.  Paul  calls 
him  the  "living  God."  Heb.  9:  14.  He  is  not  only  called 
the  "living  God"  to  distinguish  him  from  the  lifeless  gods 
of  the  heathen,  but  because  "  he  giveth  to  all  life,  and  breath, 
and  all  things."  Acts  17:  25.  In  the  Spring  of  the  3'ear 
the  face  of  the  earth,  being  renewed  by  the  Lord,  siiows 
signs  of  life  everywhere.  The  very  heart  of  nature  seems 
to  send  out  into  all  its  departments,  and  especially  into  the 
vegetable  kingdom,  streams  of  vitality',  and  the  face  of  the 
earth  throbs  with  the  tide  of  life.  "  The  trees  of  the  Lord 
are  full  of  sap ;  the  cedars  of  Lebanon  which  he  hath 
planted."  Ps.  104:  16.  In  view  of  the  truth  we  are  pre- 
senting, namely  this,  that  God  is  the  fountain  of  all  life, 
Job  exclaims,  "  who  knoweth  not  in  all  these  that  the  hand 
of  the  Lord  hath  wrounrht  this  ?     In  whose  hand  is  the  soul 


306  SERMONS    OF 

of  every  living  thing,  and  the  breath  of  all  mankind."  Job 
12 :  9,  10. 

4.  The  renewal  of  the  face  of  the  earth  is  a  beautiful 
and  expressive  symbol  of  spiritual  renovation.  Tlie  same 
term  that  is  used  to  represent  the  change  that  takes  place 
upon  the  face  of  the  earth  at  the  approach  of  Spring  is  also 
used  to  express  the  spiritual  change  that  takes  place  in  per- 
sons who  experience  a  gospel  reformation  or  transformation. 
Barren,  dreary,  and  lifeless  to  a  considerable  degree  is  the 
aspect  of  the  earth  in  winter.  And  so  the  unrenewed  soul 
is  barren,  bearing  no  fruit  of  righteousness,  and  ''dead  in 
trespasses  and  in  sins."  Eph.  2:  1.  Without  the  Spring- 
showers,  and  sunshine  of  the  Divine  Spirit,  and  the  Gospel 
of  the  grace  of  God,  there  is  no  eternal  life,  and  no  fruit  of 
righteousness  in  the  human  soul.  But  as  the  return  of 
Spi'ing  renews  the  face  of  the  earth  and  transforms  the 
dreary  and  barren  earth  into  a  scene  of  beauty,  life,  ani- 
mation, and  increased  enjoyment,  so  those  who  have  been 
renewed  in  the  spirit  of  their  minds,  and  passed  out  of  the 
cold,  dreary,  and  barren  state  of  sin,  experience  a  new  life, 
a  new  creation,  and  a  new  enjoyment.  "  If  any  man  be  in 
Christ,  he  is  a  new  creature ;  old  things  are  passed  away ; 
behold  all  things  are  become  new."  2  Cor.  5  :  17.  There  is 
as  much  difference  in  the  lives  of  such  before  they  became 
Christians  and  their  lives  as  transformed  by  the  gospel  as 
there  is  between  Winter  and  Spring.  There  is  a  great 
change.  Their  feelings,  their  enjoyments,  their  purposes, 
their  fellowships,  and  their  sympathies,  are  all  different. 

In  the  renewal  of  the  mind,  in  a  Christian  sense,  a  new 
life  is  inaugurated.  The  germ  of  eternal  life  is  planted  in 
the  renewed  mind.  And  this  eternal  life  is  a  divine  life,  the 
highest  kind  of  life,  and  consequently  it  is  a  life  that  relates 
us  to,  and  brings  us  into  connection  with  Divine  beings. 
The  believer  is  planted  into  the  death  of  Christ,  Rom.  6 :  5, 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTER.  30Y 

and  grafted  into  Christ,  John  15:  1-7.  And  if  he  then 
abides  in  Christ,  his  life  is  sure,  and  will  be  productive  of 
fruit,  and  will  develop  into  that  glorious  and  perfect  life,  to 
which  the  present  life  is  introductory. 

5.  Spring  is  also  a  symbol  of  the  resurrection.  The 
consigning  of  the  human  body  to  the  eai'th  is  compared  by 
the  apostle  Paul  to  the  planting  of  seed  in  the  ground: 
"  But  some  man  will  say,  how  are  the  dead  raised  up  ?  and 
with  what  body  do  they  come?  Thou  fool,  that  which  thou 
so  west  is  not  quickened,  except  it  die :  and  that  which  thou 
sowest,  thou  sowest  not  that  body  that  shall  be,  but  bare 
grain,  it  may  chance  of  wheat,  or  of  some  other  grain  :  but 
God  giveth  it  a  body  as  it  hath  pleased  him,  and  to  every 
seed  his  own  body.  All  flesh  is  not  the  same  flesh :  but 
there  is  one  kind  of  flesh  of  men,  another  flesh  of  beasts, 
another  of  fishes,  and  another  of  birds.  There  are  also 
celestial  bodies,  and  bodies  terrestrial :  but  the  glory  of  the 
celestial  is  one,  and  the  glory  of  the  terrestrial  is  another. 
There  is  one  glory  of  the  sun,  and  another  glory  of  the 
moon,  and  another  glory  of  the  stars;  for  one  star  differeth 
from  another  star  in  glory.  So  also  is  the  resurrection  of 
the  dead.  It  is  sown  in  corruption,  it  is  raised  in  incorrup- 
tion:  it  is  sown  in  dishonor,  it  is  raised  in  glory  :  it  is  sown 
in  weakness,  it  is  raised  in  power,"  etc.  1  Cor.  15  :  35-43. 
Such  was  Paul's  illustration  of  the  resurrection.  We  say 
illustration.  For  his  reference  to  the  grain  planted  in  the 
ground  is  rather  an  illustration  than  an  argument.  In  part 
of  this  great  discourse  he  argues  the  certainty  of  the  resur- 
rection. But  in  the  passage  we  have  quoted  at  some 
length,  he  illustrates  it,  or  proves  from  the  analogy  of 
nature,  there  is  nothing  irrational  in  the  Christian  doctrine 
of  the  resurrection.  Seeds  die  to  rise  again.  Spring  starts 
up  to  life  after  winter  has  passed,  and  its  resurrection  is 
welcomed.     And  why  should  it  be  thought  incredible  that 


308  SERMONS    OF 

it  shall  be  so  with  man?    There  is  nothing  incredible  in  the 
doctrine. 

The  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  is  in  harmony  with 
what  we  see  around  us  in  nature.  The  heathen,  with  their 
obscure  views  of  man's  future  existence,  thought  it  some- 
what strange  that  nature  should  show  such  tenacity  to  life^ 
and  that  vegetation  should  be  revived  after  being  apparently 
dead,  and  that  man  should  continue  to  sleep  the  sleep  of 
death.  Tiiey  seemed  almost  to  envy  nature.  The  following 
is  an  epitaph  written  upon  a  heathen : 

"  Alas  !  the  tender  herbs  and  flowery  tribes, 
Though  crushed  by  winter's  unrelenting  hand, 
Revive  and  rise  when  vernal  zephyrs  call. 
But  we,  the  brave,  the  mighty  and  the  wise. 
Bloom,  flourish,  fade  and  fall, — and  then  succeeds 
A  long,  long,  silent,  dark,  oblivious  sleep: 
A  sleep  which  no  propitious  Pow'r  dispels. 
Nor  changing  seasons,  nor  revolving  years." 

But  very  different  to  the  above  language  is  the  language 
of  Christian  faith  and  hope:  "  But  I  w^ould  not  have  you 
to  be  ignorant,  brethren,  concerning  them  which  are  asleep, 
that  ye  sorrow  not,  even  as  others  Avhich  have  no  hope. 
For  if  we  believe  that  Jesus  died  and  rose  again,  even  so 
them  also  which  sleep  in  Jesus  will  God  bring  with  him. 
For  this  w^e  say  unto  you  by  the  w^ord  of  the  Lord,  that  we 
which  are  alive  and  remain  unto  the  coming  of  the  Lord 
shall  not  prevent  them  which  are  asleep.  For  the  Lord 
himself  shall  descend  from  heaven  with  a  shout,  Avith  the 
voice  of  the  archangel,  and  with  the  trump  of  God :  and 
the  dead  in  Christ  shall  rise  first:  then  we  which  are 
alive  and  remain  shall  be  caught  up  together  with  them 
in  the  clouds,  to  mefet  the  Lord  in  the  air :  and  so  shall  w^e 
ever  be  with  the  Lord."  1  Thess.  4:  13-17.  What  a  glo- 
rious future  does  the  above  language  of  the  apostle  open  to 
the  Christian  !  Well  may  he  follow  it  with  this  application  : 
"  Wherefore  comfort  one  another  with  these  words." 


ELDER    JAMES    QUINTER.  oUD 

The  renewal  of  the  face  of  the  earth  by  the  return  of 
Spring,  presents  a  beautiful  sight.  The  idea  of  life,  and 
growth,  and  fruitage  in  the  natural  world  is  very  pleasant, 
and  we  contemplate  it  with  much  pleasure.  But  the  idea  of 
tiie  renewal  of  our  sinful  natures,  with  the  spiritual  beauty, 
and  the  heavenly  enjoyments,  and  the  glorious  future  asso- 
ciated with  that  ide;i,  is  still  a  much  grander  subject  for 
contemplation.  And  it  is  what  we  may  all  enjoy.  We  may 
all  realize  a  resurrection  or  a  resuscitation  of  our  spirits 
from  a  state  of  death,  unto  a  state  of  life,  and  beauty,  and 
usefulness,  and  heavenly  enjoyment.  And  he  that  renews 
the  face  of  the  earth  every  Spring,  will  I'enew  us  in  the 
spirit  of  our  minds,  if  we  seek  that  renewal.  As  we  have 
seen,  he  is  a  God  of  truth  and  of  power,  and  as  he  has 
promised  to  save,  he  will  save.  And  as  it  is  the  influence  of 
the  natural  sun  that  produces  Spring  in  nature,  so  it  is  the 
influence  of  Christ,  who  is  the  sun  of  the  spiritual  world, 
that  renews  the  soul,  and  changes  its  winter  into  Spring, 
and  raises  it  up  from  a  state  of  gloom  and  death  unto  one 
of  lio:ht  and  life.  Christ  is  our  life,  and  when  he  shall 
appear  then  shall  we  also  appear  with  him  in  glory.  Col. 
3:4. 


XXYII. 
HOSTILITY  TO  CHRIST. 


CHRISTMAS    SERMON. 

''When  Herod  the  king  heard  these  things  he  was 
troubled,  and  all  Jerusalem  with  him." — Matt.  2  :  3. 

This  is  a  time  of  general  festivity  and  cheerfulness.  Gifts 
have  been  freely  distributed  and  the  hearts  of  both  young  and 
old  have  been  s^laddened  by  them.     This  morning  we  heard 


310  se;rmons  of 

of  God's  unspeakable  gift  to  our  lost  and  guilty  world.  But 
while  this  season  of  the  year  is  a  time  of  joy  to  many — a 
time  of  Christian  joy  to  those  who  turn  the  occasion  to  their 
spiritual  edification,  and  a  time  of  carnal  joy  to  such  as 
know  no  higher  joy,  and  who  turn  ever3'tbing,  and  often 
things  of  a  sacred  character,  into  carnal  pleasure — still,  there 
are  a  great  many  amid  all  the  rejoicing  around  them,  who  are 
unhappy  and  miserable.  Such  are  the  diversified  conditions 
of  the  children  of  men,  and  such  the  extremes  which  obtain 
in  the  world. 

Such  was  the  condition  of  the  people  in  Judea  when  our 
Lord  w^as  born,  the  event  we  commemorate  at  the  Christ- 
mas festival.  There  was  great  joy ;  and  there  was  abundance 
of  cause  for  joy.  "  Unto  you  is  born  this  day  in  the  city  of 
David  a  Saviour,  which  is  Christ  the  Lord."  Luke  2  :  11. 
Such  was  the  announcement  of  the  angel  to  the  shepherds 
wdien  watching  their  flocks  by  night.  And  surely  an 
announcement  that  a  Saviour  was  born,  a  Saviour  to  save  our 
ruined  race,  was  enough  to  awaken  joy  and  gladness  in  the 
w^orld.  And  the  angel  who  bore  the  glad  tidings  to  the 
shepherds  was  joined  by  "  a  multitude  of  the  heavenly  host 
praising  God,  and  saying,  glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  and 
on  earth  peace,  good  will  toward  men.  And  it  came  to  pass 
as  the  angels  were  gone  away  from  them  into  heaven, 
the  shepherds  said  one  to  another,  let  us  now  go  even  unto 
Bethlehem  and  see  this  thing  that  has  come  to  pass,  which 
the  Lord  hath  made  knowm  unto  us."  Luke  2  :  15.  They 
accordingly  went,  and  found  the  infant  Saviour  with  his 
parents.  And  the  manner  in  which  the  shepherds  were 
affected  by  the  sight  of  the  infant  Messiah  is  seen  in  what 
followed  their  discovery.  It  is  said  "  the  shepherds  returned, 
glorifying  and  praising  God  for  all  the  things  that  they 
had  heard  and  seen,  as  it  was  told  unto  them."  Luke 
2  :  20.     Thus    we  see  that   both  men  and   angeJs  rejoiced 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTER.  311 

at  the  birth  of  our  Lord.  And  as  we  have  already 
remarked,  the  occasion  justified  all  the  joy  that  was 
manifested.  For  an  event  had  occurred  which  was  inter- 
esting to  men  and  angels.  And  we  are  not  surprised 
that  there  was  joy,  but  we  are  surprised  that  there  were 
any  among  our  fallen  race  that  did  not  share  in  the  joy.  But 
alas,  for  the  blindness,  the  ignorance,  the  selfishness,  and 
maliciousness  of  the  human  heart  when  sin  has  fully  taken 
possession  of  it.  While  there  was  joy  among  the  humble 
shepherds  in  their  tents,  in  the  palace  of  Herod  there  was 
trouble.  You  heard  me  read  the  following:  "  When  Herod 
the  King  had  heard  these  things,  he  was  troubled,  and  all 
Jerusalem  with  him.  v.  2.  Plere  we  find  trouble.  Kinofs 
are  not  always  happy.  Royalty  does  not  alwaj^s  confer 
bliss.  Purple  robes  and  glittering  palaces  often  cover  a 
great  deal  of  misery  as  well  as  crime.  Herod  was  troubled. 
And  what  troubled  him?  A  babe  troubled  him  !  With  all 
his  military  power,  and  the  nation  to  protect  him,  he  was 
afraid  of  a  babe  !  Poor  man!  He  was  himself  his  greatest 
enemy.     He  was  not  right  before  God,  nor  with  his  God. 

Then  we  see  all  were  not  happ}^  when  the  Saviour  was 
born.  And  this  thought  has  suggested  the  subject  for  our 
sermon  and  the  train  of  thoughts  that  we  will  offer  to  you 
this  evening.  It  is  sometimes  profitable  and  edifying  to 
the  mind  to  contrast  things.  We  compare  things  when  they 
have  similar  properties;  we  contrast  them  when  they  have 
different  properties.  And  this  is  a  difference  between  com- 
parison and  contrast.  And  while  Christmas  is  associated 
with  so  much  joy  and  gladness,  it  is  also  associated  wnth 
trouble.  And  as  it  is  connected  with  things  so  widely  dif- 
ferent in  their  nature,  we  have  thought  that  a  view  of  the 
trouble  associated  with  the  origin  of  the  event  we  have  just 
commemorated  may  be  edifying,  and  make  the  joy  more 
apparent.     "  Herod  and  all  Jerusalem,"  as  well  as  the  angels 


312  SERMONS   OF 

and  shepherds,  should  have  welcomed  the  Saviour,  and 
rejoiced  at  his  birth,  but  they  did  not.  They  were  angry, 
they  murmured,  they  had  no  sympath}^  with  his  mission  as 
a  Saviour  and  reformer  of  the  world.  They  took  a  position 
of  hostility  to  him. 

1.  The  intelligence  of  the  birth  of  the  long-looked-for 
king  of  the  Jews,  or  the  Messiah,  at  length  reached  the  court 
of  Herod.  He  was  not  altogether  ignorant  of  the  prophecies 
of  the  Old  Testament,  which  pointed  to  the  Messiah  and  his 
kingdom,  and  the  limit  of  his  coming  according  to  Daniel's 
prophecy  of  the  seventy  weeks.  Dan.  9  :  24.  And  as  the 
character  of  a  king  was  given  to  the  Saviour,  Herod  seemed 
to  look  upon  him  with  feelings  of  jealousy.  A  man  of  his 
character,  having,  apparently,  little  regard  to  the  spiritual 
welfare  of  his  people,  and  probably  little  regard  to  their 
welfare  in  any  respect,  and  occupying  his  throne,  and  admin- 
istering the  government  of  his  nation  from  selfish  and  ambi- 
tious motives,  would  be  very  likely  to  receive  the  news  of  the 
birth  of  the  king  of  the  Jews  with  just  such  feelings  as  were 
awakened  in  Herod's  heart  when  he  heard  the  tidings  that 
reached  him  concerning  the  infant  in  Bethlehem  whose 
birth  was  ominous  of  a  character  something  more  than  that 
of  an  ordinary  man.  Hence  he  was  troubled.  The  fulfill- 
ing of  the  Scriptures  and  the  maturing  of  God's  purposes, 
have  nothing  in  them  that  gives  promise  of  peace  or  com- 
fort to  the  wicked. 

It  seems  that  Herod  was  not  the  only  one  that  was 
troubled  at  the  birth  of  the  king  of  the  Jews.  All  Jerusa- 
lem but  the  few  that  "  waited  for  the  consolation  of  Israel," 
Luke  2  :  25,  was  likewise  troubled.  The  idea  that  all  Jeru- 
salem was  hostile  to  Christ  and  troubled  -at  his  birth  as 
soon  as  he  was  born,  is  suggestive  of  painful  thoughts  to 
such  as  fully  appreciate  the  moral  condition  that  such  a 
course  implies.     How  true  it  is  that  "  the  carnal  mind  is 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTER.  313 

enmity  against  God.  Rom,  8  :  7.  And  how  strange  it  is 
that  many  of  that  class  will  persist  in  that  course  of  enmity 
to  their  ruin !  But  the  wicked  are  to  be  pitied  as  well  as 
censured,  for  they  are  ignorant  of  the  true  character  of 
their  conduct  and  of  their  destiny. 

The  hostility  that  Herod  felt  to  Christ  culminated  or 
terminated  in  a  most  aggravated  crime.  He  first  sought  to 
accomplish  his  purpose  by  deception.  He  first  gathered  the 
chief  priests  and  scribes  together  and  inquired  of  them,  where 
Christ  should  be  born.  Having  learned  this,  he  then  called 
the  wise  men  and  inquired  of  them  the  time  when  the  star 
appeared.  He  then  "sent  them  to  Bethlehem,  and  said,  go 
and  search  diligently  for  the  young  child  ;  and  when  ye 
have  found  him,  bring  me  word  again,  that  I  may  come  and 
worship  him  also."  He  professed  to  want  to  know  where 
Christ  was,  that  he  might  go  and  worship  him.  What 
heaven-daring  h3^pocrisy!  And  what  terrible  crimes  have 
been  committed  under  the  cloak  of  religion.  But  Herod 
failed  to  obtain  the  desired  information.  And  being  disap- 
pointed and  defeated  in  obtaining  his  end  through  a  false 
pretence,  he  threw  off  the  mask  of  religion  by  which  he  first 
sought  to  accomplish  his  purpose,  and  openly  and  plainly 
showed  his  hostility  to  Christ,  by  seeking  his  life.  "Then 
Herod,  when  he  saw  that  he  was  mocked  of  the  wise  men, 
was  exceeding  wroth,  and  sent  forth,  and  slew  all  the  chil- 
dren that  were  in  Bethlehem,  and  in  all  the  coasts  thereof, 
from  two  years  old  and  under,  according  to  the  time  he  had 
diligently  inquired  of  the  wise  men."  Matt.  2:16.  In  Herod 
we  have  a  manifestation  of  the  general  character  of  perse- 
cution. When  the  design  of  persecutors  can  be  reached  in  no 
other  way,  the  most  violent  means  are  used.  Herod  hesitated 
not  to  commit  the  dreadful  crime  of  murder,  and  the  murder 
too  of  innocent  infants,  to  accomplish  his  purpose,  of  remov- 
ing Christ  out  of  the  way,  that  he  might  have  no  rival  in 


314:  SERMONS   OF 

him  for  the  throne  which  he  occupied,  and  no  reprover  of  his 
sins.  No  doubt  he  hated  the  light  and  feared  its  exposition 
of  his  wrongs.  He  knew  his  course  of  Hfe  was  Avrong,  his 
character  faulty,  and  that  the  truth  would  condemn  him, 
and  therefore  he  sought  to  destroy  it  in  its  introduction  into 
the  world.  The  wicked  world  has  always  hated  the  truth 
because  it  condemns  its  spirit  and  course,  and  like  Herod, 
has  sought  to  destroy  it. 

2.  The  hostility  showed  by  Herod  and  others  to  Christ 
and  Christianity,  subjected  his  friends  to  severe  trials.  The 
trials  of  Joseph  and  Mary* were  of  a  very  painful  character. 
Theirs  were  not  only  the  feelings  of  true  and  deep  parental 
affection  toward  their  child,  but  they  were  much  more. 
However,  they  might  have  failed  to  comprehend  fully  the 
character  of  their  child,  the  circumstances  that  attended  his 
birth,  and  the  spiritual  impressions  that  had  been  made  upon 
their  minds,  were  such  as  to  lead  them  to  look  upon  him  as 
an  unusual  child,  and  as  destined  to  become  much  more  than 
a  common  man.  It  is  said  of  the  honored  and  pious  mother 
of  our  Lord,  in  regard  to  the  manner  in  which  she  looked  at 
the  strange  occurrences  that  had  taken  place  in  her  family, 
"  But  Mary  kept  all  these  things,  and  pondered  them  in  her 
heart."  Luke  2  :  19.  Her  study  of  the  things  referred  to, 
no  doubt,  threw  more  or  less  light  upon  them,  and  made  her 
and  Joseph  feel  no  common  interest  in  the  child  that  had 
been  born  unto  them.  And,  as  already  remarked,  they  did 
not  only  feel  the  common  feelings  of  parents  to  their  chil- 
dren, but  they  felt  that  this  child  was  to  be  the  deliverer  not 
only  of  the  Jewish  nation,  but  of  the  human  race.  Such  an 
idea  may  not  have  been  grasped  by  them  in  all  its  glory 
and  in  all  its  magnitude;  nevertheless,  that  truth  in  its 
germinal  character  had  been  planted  in  their  hearts,  and  it 
grew  to  maturity  as  their  child  grew  to  manhood.  Now  the 
thought  that  Herod's  bloody  decree  should  be  executed  on 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTER.  315 

such  a  child  was  an  affliction  of  the  most  distressing 
character. 

But  still,  great  as  were  the  trials  of  the  parents  of  this 
wonderful  child,  and  the  devoted  friends  to  the  great  sys- 
tem of  divine  truth,  that  he  was  born  to  estabhsh,  by  his  life 
and  death,  those  trials  were  not  without  their  useful  and 
happy  effects.  The  trials  of  the  faithful  often  have  had  such 
effects  upon  their  minds  as  to  prepare  them  for  more  clear, 
impressive,  and  more  full  manifestations  of  divine  things. 
The  spiritually  minded,  under  trials,  become  thoughtful, 
praj'ful,  and  observant  of  the  divine  teaching.  And  under 
such  circumstances  there  will  be  an  expansion  of  mind,  a 
humiliation  oC  spirit,  an  enlargement  of  Christian  experience, 
which  will  lead  to  a  more  full  development  of  Christian 
character.  The  danger  that  Joseph  and  Mary  felt  their 
child — a  child  that  had  more  than  human  hold  upon  their 
feelings — was  exposed  to  became  a  matter  of  the  deepest 
concern  to  their  minds.  It  became  a  subject  of  intense 
interest  to  them.  It  absorbed  their  thoughts  by  day  and 
night.  And  it  was  at  night,  when  Joseph's  mind  was 
dwelling  with  the  greatest  anxiety  upon  the  subject,  that 
revelations  were  made  to  him  from  the  spirit  world. 
Not  knowing  where  to  flee  to  protect  the  precious 
treasure,  God's  unspeakable  gift  to  man,  an  angel  appeared 
to  him  in  a  dream,  and  gave  him  warning,  which  en- 
abled him  to  preserve  the  life  of  the  child.  Matt.  2:  22.  It 
is  a  precious  principle  in  God's  dealings  with  us,  that  the 
more  intensely  the  soul  is  exercised  within  us  in  regard  to 
divine  things,  the  more  susceptible  we  are  of  impressions 
from  the  spirit  world. 

When  Hagar,  in  the  wilderness,  had  given  the  last  of  the 
water  she  had  to  her  child,  and  when  she  had  laid  the  lad 
under  a  bush  to  protect  him  from  the  burning  rays  of  the 
sun,  and  had  retired  to  save  her  from  the  sorrow  of  seeing 


316  SERMONS    OF 

him  die,  and  when  "she  lifted  up  her  voice  and  wept,"  it 
was  then  tliat  her  feelings  were  stretched  to  their  utmost 
tension  of  anxiety  about  her  child,  that  "an  angel  of  God 
called  to  Hagar  out  of  heaven  and  said  unto  her,  what  aileth 
thee,  Ilngar?  fear  not;  for  God  hath  lieard  the  voice  of  the 
lad,  wh^re  he  is.  Arise,  lift  up  the  lad  and  hold  him  in 
thine  hand  ;  and  I  will  make  him  a  great  nation.  And  God 
opened  her  eyes  and  she  saw  a  well  of  water;  and  she  went 
and  filled  the  bottle  with  water  and  gave  the  lad  drink." 
Gen.  21 :  17-19.  Ilagar's  trial  was  great,  but  in  that  trial 
she  learned  more  of  the  divine  supplies  than  she  had  ever 
known  before.  Cases  of  this  kind  could  be  greatly  multi- 
plied. The  fact  seems  to  be  this:  the  more  the  spiritual 
within  us  is  exercised  and  stirred  up,  the  closer  will  the  spir- 
itual influences  without  us,  and  above  us,  come  unto  us,  and 
the  more  ti)orough  will  be  our  acquaintance  with  them. 

3.  Though  Christ  and  his  cause  have  had  enemies,  hos- 
tile, formidable,  and  numerous,  and  though  the  friends  of 
Christ  have  had  trials,  many  and  sore,  Christ  and  Chris- 
tianity yet  live,  and  their  friends,  though  often  cast  down, 
have  never  been  forsaken  ;  and  often  exposed  to  trials,  those 
trials  have  been  sanctified  to  their  good.  Christ  escaped 
from  Herod's  power,  and  he  escaped,  loo,  from  the  power  of 
death.     And  he  now  lives  to  die  no  more. 

The  cause  of  Christ  has  triumphed.  It  had  hostile  foes, 
but  it  had  friends  more  powerful  than  were  its  enemies.  It 
had  friends  human  and  divine.  Joseph  and  Mary  are  types 
of  the  former.  How  anxious  were  they  for  the  safety  of 
the  child  Jesus.  He  was  to  be  the  incarnation  of  Christian 
truth,  as  well  as  the  revealer  of  that  truth.  In  their  anxiety 
for  the  protection  of  the  infant  Messiah,  two  very  import- 
ant things  were  observable,  and  these  should  characterize 
the  human  friends  and  guardians  of  Christian  truth  in  every 
age  of  the  world.    These  were,  (1)  a  warm  and  sincere  affec- 


ELDER  JAMES  QUINTEB.  317 

tion.  They  loved  the  child  that  they  sought  so  diligently 
to  protect,  with  more  than  the  common  affection  showed  by 
parents  to  their  chiklren.  And  all  the  true  friends  of  Christ 
and  his  cause  must  love  him  supremely.  (2)  They  followed 
strictly  the  divine  direction.  Divine  direction  was  given 
them  through  the  ministry  of  angels.  We  have  divine  direc- 
tion given  us,  to  show  us  how  we  mav  honor  Chi-ist,  and 
how  we  may  be  saved  by  him  in  the  gospel  of  tiie  kingdom 
which  he  preached  when  he  entered  upon  his  public  minis- 
try. We  can  do  nothing  better  for  the  truth,  nor  anything 
that  will  tlie  better  protect  it  and  promote  it,  than  to  strictly 
follow  its  directions.  Though  it  may  take  us  into  "  Egypt," 
or  into  circumstances  of  less  liberty  and  comfort  than  we 
might  sometimes  desire,  it  will  in  due  time  bring  us  into  the 
"land  of  Israel,"  and  not  only  so,  but  into  "the  new  Jeru- 
salem." 

Christianity  has  also  divine  protectors.  This  divine  pro- 
tection was  very  strikingly  manifested  in  the  deliverance  of 
the  infant  Saviour  from  the  cruel  Ilerod.  The  divine  power 
was  interposed,  and  the  wicked  king  was  removed.  And  it 
would  seem  that  heaven's  displeasure  was  showed  in  his 
miserable  death,  for  according  to  Josephus  he  died  a  ter- 
rible death.  Heaven  has  often  interposed  its  power  in 
behalf  of  the  cause  of  truth  and  righteousness,  and  hence  u^e 
may  confidently  conclude  they  are  of  God.  And  as  God 
has  owned  Christ  to  be  his  Son,  and  put  his  ajiproval  upon 
his  ministry  as  well  as  upon  his  birth,  we  have  no  excuse  for 
not  believing  in  him. 

In  conclusion  we  would  ask  you,  how  does  the  truth  of 
Christ  effect  you  ?  Can  you  unite  in  the  songs  of  praise 
sunor  bv  men  and  an^jels  at  the  birth  of  Christian  truth  ? 
Has  that  truth  made  vou  free— free  from  guilt  and  con- 
demnation, and  filled  your  hearts  with  holy  peace  and  joy  ? 
<  i',  does  Christ  and  his  truth  trouble  you  as  they  did  Herod 


318  SERMONS  or 

and  others'^  If  they  do,  you  know  why  it  is.  It  is  because 
3'ou  are  not  following  the  divine  direction.  "There  is, 
therefore,  now  no  condemnation  to  them  that  are  in  Christ 
Jesus,  who  walk  not  after  the  flesh,  but  after  the  spirit.'' 
Rom.  8 :  1. 


XXYIII. 
THE  GEATEFUL  REVIEW. 

A    SERMON    FOR   THE   CLOSING   YEAR. 

"  And  Jacob  said,  O  God  of  my  father  Abraham,  and 
God  of  my  father  Isaac,  the  Lord  which  saidst  unto  me, 
return  unto  thy  country,  and  to  thy  kmdred,  and  I  will  deal 
well  with  thee  ;  I  am  not  worthy  of  the  least  of  all  the 
mercies,  and  of  all  the  truth,  which  thou  hast  showed  unto 
thy  servant ;  for  with  my  staff  I  passed  over  this  Jordan ; 
and  now  I  am  become  two  bands.  Deliver  me,  I  pray  thee, 
from  the  hand  of  my  brother,  from  the  hand  of  Esau ;  for  I 
fear  him,  lest  he  will  come  and  smite  me,  and  the  mother 
with  the  children.  And  thou  saidst,  I  will  surely  do  thee 
good,  and  make  thy  seed  as  the  sand  of  the  sea,  which  can 
not  be  numbered  for  multitude." — Gen.  xxxii.  9-12. 

The  paragraph  read  is  a  part  of  the  Bible  history  of  the 
eventful  life  of  the  patriarch  Jacob.  His  life  was  subject 
to  the  general  changes  that  human  life  is  subject  to  in  our 
world,  in  which  good  and  evil  are  in  conflict,  both  having 
their  influence  to  some  degree  either  directly  or  indirectly 
upon  all  men.  In  this  part  of  his  history  we  find  him  at 
prayer,  and  the  language  of  our  text  is  a  part  of  his  prayer. 
He  was  in  great  trouble.  Domestic  affairs  in  his  father-in- 
law's  family  became  seriously  disturbed,  and  a  proper  re- 
gard to  his  peace  and  duty  seems  to  have  justified,  and  per- 


ELDER  JAMES   QUINTER.  319 

haps  demanded,  a  separation.  Jacob  had  served  his  father- 
in-law  Laban  twenty  years,  fourteen  years  for  his  two 
daughters,  and  six  years  for  cattle.  And  notwithstanding 
he  had  served  him  so  long,  and  so  successfully,  Laban's  sons 
became  jealous  of  their  brother-m-law  Jacob,  and  prejudiced 
their  father  against  him.  In  the  beginning  of  the  chapter 
we  have  the  following:  "And  he  heard  the  words  of  Laban's 
sons,  saying,  Jacob  hath  taken  away  all  that  was  our  father's; 
and  of  that  which  was  our  father's  hath. he  gotten  all  this 
glory.  And  Jacob  beheld  the  coutenance  of  Laban,  and, 
behold,  it  was  not  toward  him  as  before.  And  the  Lord 
said  unto  Jacob,  return  unto  the  land  of  thy  fathers,  and  to 
thy  kindred  •  and  I  will  be  with  thee."  We  see  from  this 
that  the  sons  of  Laban,  the  brothers-in-law  to  Jacob,  became 
envious  toward  him,  as  we  remarked  before,  and  no  doubt 
made  the  home  of  Jacob  and  his  family  very  unpleasant. 
The  Lord,  that  hud  seen  the  afflictions  of  his  people  in 
Egypt  when  oppressed  by  Pharaoh  (Ex.  iii.  7),  now  saw  the 
affliction  of  Jacob  and  directed  him  to  return  to  the  country 
of  his  father. 

But  in  escaping  from  the  troubles  of  his  father-in-law, 
and  returning  to  the  home  of  his  youth,  another  trouble 
awaited  him.  He  had  to  meet  his  offended  brother  Esau. 
Thus  we  perceive  that  Jacob  was  in  a  strait.  And  in  this 
dilemma  he  carried  his  trouble  to  the  Lord  in  prayer.  This 
is  the  way  that  good  people — people  who  have  learned  to 
trust  the  Lord — do.  So  Peter  admonishes,  when  he  says, 
"  Humble  yourselves,  therefore,  under  the  mighty  hand  of 
God,  that  he  may  exalt  you  in  due  time;  casting  all  your 
care  upon  him ;  for  he  careth  for  you." — 1  Peter,  v.  6,  7. 
Notice,  we  are  to  cast  all  our  care  upon  God.  He  will  bear 
it  all  for  us.  So  did  our  father  Jacob  at  the  trying  period  of 
his  life  at  which  we  are  now  considering  him.  And  we  have 
his  beautiful  and  instructive  prayer  which  we  have  read,  and 


320  SERMONS   OF 

which  we  selected  for  our  subject  to-day.  In  it  occur  these 
words :  "  For  with  my  staff  I  passed  over  this  Jordan  ;  and 
now  I  am  become  two  bands."  This  suggests  an  important 
thought  in  the  text,  and  gives  the  title  of  our  subject,  which 
will  be,  A  Grateful  Review.  This  day,  the  last  day  of  the 
year  1882,  has  suggested  the  text  and  the  subject.  In  look- 
ing at  the  prayer  of  Jacob  offered  in  his  perplexity  and 
trouble,  we  shall  notice  some  of  the  religious  ideas  contained 
in  it. 

1.  The  manner  in  lohich  he  addressed  God,  may  be  looked 
at  with  profit.  "And  Jacob  said,  O  God  of  my  father 
Abraham,  and  God  of  my  father  Isaac."  Headdresses  him- 
self to  God  as  the  God  of  his  fathers.  We  read  of  strange 
gods  among  the  people,  and  strange  gods  had  even  been 
introduced  into  Jacob's  family,  probably  through  Eachel  his 
wife.  But  Jacob  neither  worshiped  them,  nor  tolerated 
them  in  his  family.  Gen.  35  :  2.  He  worshiped  and  prayed 
to  the  God  of  his  fathers,  the  God  whom  he  w^ell  knew,  iand 
of  whom  he  learned  much  of  his  fathers.  God  himself  tes- 
tified to  Abraham's  faithfulness  in  his  family,  when  he  said 
concerning  him,  "I  know  him,  that  he  will  command 
his  children  and  his  household  after  him,  and  they  shall  keep 
the  way  of  the  Lord,  to  do  justice  and  judgment;  that  the 
Lord  may  bring  upon  Abraham  that  which  he  hath  spoken 
of  him."  Gen.  18  :  19.  The  ancient  patriarchs  and  saints 
were  careful  to  instruct  their  children  in  the  ways  and  of 
the  wonders  of  the  Lord,  as  is  evident  from  the  following 
words  of  the  psalmist :  "  "We  have  heard  with  our  ears,  O 
God,  our  fathers  have  told  us,  what  work  thou  didst  in  their 
days,  in  the  times  of  old.  How^  thou  didst  drive  out  the 
heathen  with  they  hand,  and  plantedst  them;  how  thou 
didst  afflict  the  people,  and  cast  them  out."  Psalm  44:  1,  2. 
Thus  it  w^as  that  the  children  were  taught  to  know  God. 
And  being  taught  of  God  as  they  were,  and  learning  from 


ELDER  JAMES  QUINTER.  321 

their  parents  the  wonderful  works  of  God,  the  impressions 
made  upon  the  minds  of  the  children  were  lasting  and  profit- 
able. 

.  With  God  and  his  altar  of  worship,  the  children  of  the 
ancient  fathers  were  familiar.  And  the  love,  reverence  and 
devotion,  which  the  parents  showed  to  God,  endeared  him 
to  their  children,  and  thus  the  God  of  the  parents  became 
the  God  of  their  children.  And  hence  Jacob's  manner  of 
addressing  God,  "  O  God  of  my  father  Abraham,  and  God 
of  my  father  Isaac."  And  some  of  you,  brethren  and  sisters. 
have  got  your  first  impressions  of  God  through  your  parents. 
The  customs  among  our  brethren  have  been  such  that 
parents  have  taken  the  children  with  them  to  the  common 
meetings  for  worship,  and  to  our  love  feasts,  and  thus  they 
have  been  brought  into  associations  with  the  service  of  God, 
and  seeing  their  parents  happy  there,  and  also  happy  in 
their  religion  at  home,  they  have  formed  favorable  iileas  of 
God  and  his  service,  and  have  made  their  father's  God  their 
God.  And  let  us  all  who  have  families  and  childi-en  now, 
or  who  may  hereafter  have,  so  worship  and  serve  God,  that 
he  may  so  bless  us,  and  so  make  his  blessings  manifest  to  us, 
that  our  children  may  become  so  favorably  impressed  with 
the  character  of  our  God,  that  they  will  choose  him  for  their 
God  and  portion 

2.  Jacob  in  his  pray e7\  plead  the  promises  of  God  to  him. 
He  wisely  and  properly  took  advantage  of  God's  promises  to 
him,  and  the  remembrance  of  them,  no  doubt,  greatly 
encouraged  and  emboldened  him  to  urge  his  case  before  the 
Lord.  "And  thou  saidst,  I  will  surely  do  thee  good,  and 
make  thy  seed  as  the  sand  of  the  sea,  which  can  not  be  num- 
bered for  multitude."  Thus  did  he  remind  God  of  his  prom- 
ise. Such  a  promise  God  had  given  him  on  a  former  occa- 
sion. Gen.  28  :  14,  15.  And  he  knew  that  that  promise  had 
not  been  fulfilled.     And  perhaps  he  knew,  or  had  some  idea 


c22  SERMONS  OF 

of  the  fact,  that  that  promise  did  not  only  affect  him  as  a,n 
individual,  but  also  affected  the  purposes  of  God  in  regard 
to  the  Jewish  nation.  And  it  might  have  occurred  to 
him,  liad  his  mind  grasped  the  promise  in  some  of  its  pro- 
plietic  aspects,  that  should  he  fall  a  victim  to  the  anger  of 
his  brother  Esau,  the  purposes  and  plans  of  God  would  be 
interfered  with.  And  hence  it  was,  perhaps,  that  he  plead 
the  proliiise  as  he  did. 

Jacob's  example  in  pleading  the  promise  of  God  in 
prayer,  commends  itself  to  our  consideration,  and  is  worthy 
of  our  imitation.  Though  God  does  not  now  appear  to  us, 
and  make  the  promises  to  us  personally  and  individually  as 
he  did  to  the  saints  of  old,  we  have  many  of  his  promises 
contained  in  both  the  Old  and  the  New  Testaments,  and 
those  promises  to  whomsoever  they  were  made,  or  to  what- 
ever churches  they  were  made,  as  far  as  they  are  applicable 
to  us,  and  as  we  may  need  their  fulfillment  to  promote  our 
spirituality  of  life,  our  edification,  or  our  welfare  in  any 
respect,  belong  to  us,  and  are  virtually  made  to  us.  If 
we  belong  to  the  family  of  believers,  or  to  them  that 
love  and  serve  God,  his  promises  are  the  common  portion 
and  blessing  of  them  all.  And  further,  there  are  promises 
also  made  unto  sinners — penitent  sinners.  Whenever  a 
person  desires  to  turn  from  his  evil  ways,  and  to  do  right, 
and  to  live  a  new  and  divine  life,  such  a  person  may  "come 
boldly  unto  the  throne  of  grace,  that  he  may  obtain  mercy, 
and  find  grace  to  help  in  time  of  need." — Heb.  4  :  16.  "To 
this  man  will  I  look,"'  says  God,  "even  to  him  that  is  poor 
and  of  a  conti'ite  spirit,  and  trembleth  at  my  word." — 
Isa.  60 :  2. 

To  approach  God  acceptably,  and  to  prevail  with  him 
in  prayer,  we  must  pray  in  faith.  This  is  difficult  for  us  to 
do  sometimes.  We  are  tempted  to  doubt.  But  we  must  not 
doubt,  but  believe.      The  condition   upon    which    we  may 


ELDER  JAMES   QtJINTER.  323 

expect  our  prayers  to  be  answered  is  thus  stated  by  the 
apostle  James  :  "  But  let  him  ask  in  faith,  nothing  wavering. 
For  he  that  vvavereth  is  like  a  wave  of  the  sea  driven  with 
the  wind  and  tossed.  For  let  not  that  man  think  that  he 
shall  receive  anything  of  the  Lord." — James  1 :  6,  7.  But 
when  we  know  that  God  has  promised  to  give  us  what  we 
pray  for,  and  that  he  has  invited  us  to  come  to  him  with 
our  prayers,  this  will  beget  faith  in  us,  and  enable  us  to 
believe  that  we  shall  receive  the  things  we  pray  for.  It  is 
very  desirable  and  important  that  we  keep  in  mind  the 
promises  of  God  when  we  go  to  him  in  prayer. 

3.  Another  consideration  encouraged  Jacob  to  pray  to  God 
for  deliverance  from  the  hand  of  Esau,  and  that  was  the 
thought  that  God  had  directed  him  to  take  the  journey  that  he 
was  then  taking.  "And  Jacob  said,  O  God  of  my  father 
Abraham,  and  God  of  my  father  Isaac,  the  Lord  which 
saidst  unto  to  me,  return  unto  thy  country,  and  to  thy  kin- 
dred, and  I  will  deal  well  with  thee."  When  the  Lord  saw 
that  Jacob  was  not  receiving  the  kind  treatment  from  his 
father-in-law  and  brothers-in-law  that  he  should  receive,  he 
directed  him  to  return  unto  to  the  land  of  his  fathers.  And 
this  Jacob  reminded  the  Lord  of  as  we  have  seen.  When 
we  ask  the  Lord  for  help  to  do  some  work,  or  to  perform 
some  duty  to  which  he  has  called  us,  we  may  be  encouraged 
to  approach  him  with  freedom,  and  to  ask  in  faith.  For  surely 
if  we  need  his  help  to  do  what  he  has  called-us  to  do,  he  will 
give  us  that  help.  And  he  will  never  ask  us  to  do  anything 
but  what  we  can  do  with  his  help.  If  we  are  doing  some- 
thing that  we  know  is  wrong  in  the  sight  of  God,  and  con- 
trary to  his  holy  law,  we  would  not  dare  to  ask  him  to  help 
and  bless  us  in  such  work.  And  if  we  w^ould  attempt  to  do 
something  about  the  lawfulness  of  which  we  would  have 
some  doubts,  we  could  not  pray  in  much  faith  to  God  for 
his  help,  and  of  course  we  would  not  obtain  his  help.     "  Ye 


324  SERMONS   OF 

ask  and  receive  not,"  says  James,  "  because  ye  ask  amiss, 
that  ye  may  consume  it  upon  your  lusts."  James  4  :  3.  We 
must  not  expect  God's  blessings  when  we  would  use  them 
in  gratifying  our  lusts.  But  when  we  are  prosecuting  the 
work  of  the  Lord,  or  pursuing  a  course  to  which  he  has 
called  us,  we  then  can  go  with  confidence  to  God  in  prayer, 
and  look  up  to  him  without  shame  upon  our  countenance,  or  in 
our  hearts.  Then  we  can  indeed  come  "  boldly  to  the  throne 
of  grace." 

4.  The  self-abasenieyit  tliat  he  felt  and  showed  in  his 
prayer,  was  a  coramenddble  trait  in  JacoVs  character,  and 
especially  when  he  was  a  suppliant  hefore  the  throne  of  God. 
When  men  with  their  entire  dependence  upon  God,  and  all 
their  infirmities,  and  unworthiness,  come  into  his  presence, 
who  is  all  holiness  and  purity,  and  in  whom  "is  no  darkness 
at  all,"  I  John  1 :  5,  humiliation  and  self-abasement  well  be- 
come them.  This  excellency  of  character  with  many  others 
Jacob  exhibited.  "I  am  not  worthy,"  said  he  in  his  prayer, 
"  of  the  least  of  all  the  mercies,  and  of  all  the  truth,  which 
thou  hast  showed  unto  thy  servant."  Jacob  was  greatly 
humbled  under  the  thought  that  God  had  dealt  so  gra- 
ciously and  liberally  with  him,  notwithstanding  he  was 
entirely  unworthy  of  the  very  least  of  all  the  favors  he  had 
received  from  him.  This  is  an  amiable  feeling.  Meekness  is 
one  of  the  characteristics  of  the  Spirit  that  is  in  the  sight  of 
God  of  great  price.  1  Peter  3: 4.  Hence  we  are  admon-. 
ished  to  be  "clothed  with  humility,"  and  the  reason  given  is, 
that  "  God  resisteth  the  proud,  and  giveth  grace  to  the  hum- 
ble." 1  Peter  5  : 5.  This  feeling  of  humility  or  self-abase- 
ment is  a  characteristic  of  all  the  saints  of  God.  Abraham 
possessed  it.  He  said  when  pleading  with  God  for  Sodom, 
"  Behold  now,  I  have  taken  upon  me  to  speak  unto  the  Lord, 
which  am  but  dust  and  ashes."  Gen.  18  :  27.  David  pos- 
sessed much  of  the  feeling  of  humility.   When  God  revealed 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTER.  325 

to  him  his  gracious  purpose  in  regard  to  his  son  Solomon, 
he  was  greatly  affected,  and  said,  "  Who  am  I,  O  Lord  God, 
and  what  is  mine  house,  that  thou  hast  brought  me  hitherto? 
And  yet  this  was  a  small  thing  in  thine  eyes,  O  God  ;  for 
thou  hast  also  spoken  of  thy  servant's  house  for  a  great 
while  to- come,  and  hast  regarded  me  according  to  the  estate 
of  a  man  of  high  degree,  O  Lord  God."  1  Chron.  17  :  16, 
IT.  Though  God  treated  David  with  great  honor  and 
respect,  and  as  "  a  man  of  high  degree,"  it  did  not  make  him 
proud  or  vain.  Paul  spoke  of  himself  as  "  the  least  of  all 
saints,"  Eph.  3  :  8.  True  humility  consists  in  low  opinions 
of  ourselves  as  we  see  was  the  case  with  those  holy  men  to 
whom  we  have  referred.  There  is  no  element  in  the  renewed 
mind  upon  which  more  depends  for  the  progressive  and  full 
development  of  Christian  character,  than  humility.  Indeed 
a  person  that  is  vain  and  conceity,  will  not  improve  much 
in  anything  that  is  good.  And  while  we  would  say  to  all, 
we  say  it  with  emphasis  to  you,  young  women  and  young 
men,  "  Be  not  wise  in  your  conceit."  Rom.  12  :  16.  Self- 
conceit  will  never  commend  anybody  to  the  wise  and  good. 
It  is  evidence  of  both  a  mental  and  spiritual  defect. 

5.  We  also  have  in  our  subject,  Jacobus  grateful  acicnowl- 
edgment  upon  a  review  of  Go(Vs  gracious  dealings  with,  him 
in  the  past.  "  With  my  staff  I  passed  over  the  Jordan  ;  and 
now  I  am  become  two  bands."  The  true  spirit  of  religious 
devotion  is  favorable  to,  and  promotive  of,  ideas  and  reflec 
tions.  It  promotes  the  health  and  vigor  of  the  mind.  With 
the  time  which  he  had  lived,  full  of  instructive  incidents, 
with  the  peculiar  surroundings  that  then  surrounded  him, 
and  with  the  anticipated  future  before  him,  his  mind  was 
active,  and  his  thoughts  were  many.  He  reviewed  the  past. 
Former  years  with  many  of  their  occurrences  passed  in 
review  before  his  anxious  and  devotional  mind.  He  remem- 
bered that  some  twenty  years  before,  he  had  passed  over  the 


326  SERMONS     OF 

memorable  stream  of  Jordan  a  lonel}^  wanderer,  with  his 
pilgrim  staff,  comparatively  young,  inexperienced  and  poor. 
He  compares  his  condition  at  that  time  with  his  condition 
as  it  now  was  some  twenty  years  after.  He  finds  the  con- 
trast was  striking  and  great.  As  remarked  already,  when 
he  passed  this  way  twenty  years  before,  he  was  compara- 
tively young,  lonely,  inexperienced  and  poor.  Now  he  is  rich 
in  the  blessings  of  domestic  happiness,  rich  in  secular 
wealth,  and  he  was  also  enriched  by  a  more  full  and  experi- 
mental knowledge  of  God,  for  God  had  been  with  him,  pro- 
tected him,  and  blessed  his  labors.  To  the  depth  and 
sincerity  of  his  piet}',  his  words  and  actions  bear  testimony. 
Upon  the  review  of  his  life,  he  gratefully  acknowledges  God 
to  be  the  author  and  giver  "  of  all  the  mercies,  and  of  all 
the  truth,  that  had  crowned  his  life  and  his  .labors. 

And  now,  dear  friends,  let  us  review  our  lives  from  the 
point  of  time  we  occupy  to-day,  the  last  day  of  the  year  of 
our  Lord,  eighteen  hundred  and  eighty-two.  And  upon 
such  a  review,  what  shall  we  find?  In  comparing  our  pres- 
ent life  with  the  past,  will  we  find  an  improvement  ?  We 
trust  many  can.  God  has  blessed  some  of  us  with  tem- 
poral blessings,  and  though  none  of  us  may  be  wealthy, 
the  pecuniary  circumstances  of  some  are  more  easy,  and 
more  free  from  embarrassment  than  they  once  were.  The 
domestic  joys  of  some  have  increased,  and  we  have 
happy  homes  and  families.  None  of  us  feel  that  we  have 
much  knowledge,  but  we  haVe  learned  some  things  we  once 
did  not  know,  and  we  trust  we  are  a  little  wiser  than  we 
once  were.  And  last  of  all,  and  best  of  all,  some  of  us  feel 
that  in  reviewing  our  past  lives,  and  in  comparing  our  pres- 
ent spiritual  state  with  what  it  once  was,  we  find  we  are 
not  "dead  in  trespasses  and  sins,"  as  we  once  were,  but 
"  have  passed  from  death  unto  life,"  and  have  made  some 
progress  in  the  divine  life  of  the  holy,  and  have  laid  up  for 


ELDER    JAME8    QDINTER.  327 

ourselves  some  treasure  in  heaven.  With  Jacob,  we  can  say, 
applying  his  language  to  our  inner  and  spiritual  life,  "  with 
my  staff  I  passed  over  this  Jordan ;  and  now  I  am  become 
two  bands/'  And  to  God  we  ascribe  the  glory,  for  each  will 
say,  "  I  am  not  worthy  of  the  least  of  all  the  mercies,  and 
of  all  the  truth,  which  thou  hast  shewed  unto  thy  servant." 
Dear  friends,  God  lias  been  good  to  us  all,  and  let  his  good- 
ness lead  us  to  repentance,  and  from  henceforth  let  us  all 
consecrate  ourselves  to  his  service. 

6.  Finally,  notice  the  success  of  JacoFs  prayer.  The 
meeting  between  him  and  Esau  occurred.  But  Esau  did  not 
come  to  meet  Jacob  as  he  feared  he  would  as  "an  armed 
man  "  for  battle.  But  he  came  as  a  brother  with  extended 
arms  to  embrace  Jacob.  "And  Esau  ran  to  meet  him,  and 
embraced  him.  and  fell  on  his  neck,  and  kissed  him,  and 
they  wept."  Gen.  33  :  4.  Such  was  the  meeting  between 
Jacob  and  Esau !  Esau's  anger  gave  place  to  love,  and  the 
meeting  was  a  meeting  of  loving  brothers.  Jacob's  prayer  was 
answered,  and  God's  power  was  remarkably  manifested.  "A 
brother  offended  is  harder  to  be  won  than  a  strong  city." 
Prov.  18  :19.  But  God's  power  can  subdue  even  an  offended 
brother.  We  have  in  the  reconciliation  of  Jacob  and  Esau,  a 
confirmation  of  the  following  promise :  "  When  a  man's  ways 
please  the  Lord,  he  maketh  even  his  enemies  to  be  at  peace 
with  him."  Prov.  16  :  Y.  May  the  God  of  Abraham,  and 
of  Isaac,  and  of  Jacob,  and  of  all  the  faithful,  be  our  God. 


328  SERMONS   OF 


XXIX. 

THE  RELIGIOUS  CHARACTER  OF  COMMON 
BUSINESS  IN  THE  LIFE  OF  CHRISTIANS. 

"  Servants,  obey  in  all  things  your  masters,  according  to 
the  flesh  ;  not  with  eye-service,  as  men  pleasers ;  but  in  sin- 
gleness of  heart,  fearing  God  ;  and  whatsoever  ye  do,  do  it 
heartily,  as  to  the  Lord,  and  not  unto  men ;  knowing  that  of 
the  Lord  ye  shall  receive  the  reward  of  the  inheritance ;  for 
ye  serve  the  Lord  Christ.  But  he  that  doeth  wrong  shall 
receive  for  the  wrong  which  he  hath  done  ;  and  there  is  no 
respect  of  persons.  Masters  give  unto  your  servants  that 
which  is  just  and  eqaal ;  knowing  that  ye  also  have  a  Mas- 
ter in  heaven."— Col.  3  :  22-25  ;  4  :  1. 

We  have  read  the  first  verse  of  the  fourth  chapter,  as  the 
apostle's  admonition  to  the  masters  seems  naturally  to  follow 
his  admonition  to  the  servants.  Masters  and  servants  are  cor- 
relative terms,  implying  reciprocal  duties  to  each  other,  as 
do  the  words  fathers  and  children,  and  husbands  and  wives. 
And  as  these  terms  imply  reciprocal  duties  to  each  other, 
there  are  obligations  growing  out  of  these  relations  resting 
upon  each  party.  And  the  apostle  is  teaching,  in  this  part 
of  his  epistle  to  the  Colossians,  the  importance  of  meeting 
these  obligations.  We  select  on  this  occasion  for  our  subject 
the  apostle's  admonition  to  servants,  as  this  contains  a  grand 
truth,  and  one  of  very  wide  application,  namel}^,  this.  The 
reliyious  character  of  common  business  in  the  lives  of  Chris- 
tians. 

We  shall  present  our  ideas  under  the  following  heads: 

/.     Christ  is  our  Master. 

II.     The  service  toe  are  to  render  to  him.. 

Ill     The  reward  of  the  service  rendered  to  Christ 

IV.     The  impartiality  of  the  Divine  Master. 

I.  Christ  is  our  Master.  He  said  to  his  disciples  in  his 
interview  with  them  when  he  washed  their  feet,  "  Ye  call  me 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTEK.  329 

Master  and  Lord  :  and  ye  say  well ;  for  so  I  am." — John  13  :  13. 
Master  here  expresses  the  relation  of  the  disciples  to  Christ  as 
learners,  and  Lord,  their  relation  to  him  as  servants.  There 
seems  to  be  some  difference  in  the  relation  of  Christ  to  his 
disciples  expressed  by  the  words,  Master  and  Lord.  And 
the  difference  is  probably  something  like  that  we  have  given. 
We  are  not  to  serve  the  Lord  in  ignorance,  but  we  are  to  do 
it  intelligently.  Hence  he  teaches  as  Avell  as  commands. 
And  as  he  teaches  the  truth,  when  we  obey  him,  we  may 
feel  that  we  are  doing  reverence  and  obedience  to  the  truth. 
As  Master  stands  here  in  connection  with  Lord,  Master  is  to 
be  understood  in  the  sense  of  Teacher.  And  in  some  trans- 
lations we  have  the  article  added  to  Master  and  Lord,  mak- 
ing the  readmg,  the  Master  and  the  Lord,  showing  the 
supremacy  of  Christ  over  all  others,  in  accordance  with  his 
teaching  when  he  says,  "  For  one  is  your  Master,  even 
Christ.— Matt.  23  :  8. 

But  to  whom  is  Christ  Master?  Or,  who  are  his  servants? 
Does  he  require  obedience  and  service  of  those  only  who 
have  given  themselves  to  him,  and  who  are  his  professed  dis- 
ciples ?  His  requirements  are  by  no  means  confined  to  these. 
When  the  Father  spake  out  of  the  cloud,  and  said  in  referring 
to  the  Saviour,  "  This  is  my  beloved  Son,  in  whom  I  am  well 
pleased  ;  hear  ye  Him  "  (Matt,,  17  :  5),  did  the  Father  mean 
that  his  command  to  hear  his  Son  was  designed  only  for  the 
disciples  of  Christ?  We  must  not  confine  the  command  to 
them.  He  came  to  call  the  sinners  to  repentance,  and  they 
should  hear  the  call.  And  if  they  do  not  hear,  they  are  dis- 
obedient,  and  as  such  they  will  be  dealt  with  in  the  great 
rewarding  day.  It  is  said  in  our  text,  "  He  that  doeth  wrong 
shall  receive  for  the  wrong  which  he  hath  done."  Now,  we 
can  not  confine  the  application  of  these  words  to  the  disciples, 
and  understand  from  them  that  the  disciples  only  shall 
receive  for  the  wrong  that  they  have  done.     According  to 


330  SEliMONS    OF 

such  an  explanation  the  wicked  would  go  free,  while  only 
those  among  the  disciples  of  Christ  that  do  wrong  will  be  pun- 
ished. Such  an  explanation  will  not  do.  We  must,  there- 
fore, come  to  the  conclusion  that  Christ  is  our  common 
Master,  and  that  we  all  owe  Him  our  service,  whether  we 
are  serving  Him  or  not.  It  is  not  only  that  which  we  have 
promised  that  we  are  under  obligations  to  perform,  but  we 
are  under  obligations  to  do  whatever  Christ,  our  Master, 
commands  us  to  do.  "And  the  times  of  this  ignorance  God 
winked  at;  but  now  commandeth  all  men  everywhere  to 
repent,  because  he  hath  appointed  a  day,  in  the  which  he 
will  judge  the  world  in  righteousness  by  that  man  whom  he 
hath  ordained ;  whereof  he  hath  given  assurance  unto  all 
men,  in  that  he  hath  raised  him  from  the  dead." — Acts 
17  :  30,  31.  Here  we  see  who  are  under  obhgationsto  God. 
He  has  commanded  all  men  to  repent  or  reform ;  and  he  has 
a  perfect  right  to  do  so.  And  we  are  his  servants,  whether 
we  are  serving  Him  or  not.  But  if  we  do  not  obey  his  com- 
mands, and  reform  and  serve  Him,  w^e  then  do  wrong,  and 
we  shall  receive  accordingly. 

//.     The  service  we  are  to  render  to  Him. 

"  Servants,  obey  in  all  things  your  masters  according  to 
the  flesh,  not  with  eye-service  as  men-pleasers,  but  in  single- 
ness of  heart,  fearing  God.  And  whatsoever  ye  do,  do  it 
heartily,  as  to  the  Lord,  and  not  unto  men."  This  language 
is  somewhat  remarkable.  Or,  perhaps,  we  should  rather  say, 
the  idea  contained  in  the  language  is  remarkable.  This 
language  was  addressed  to  servants,  and  perhaps  some  of 
these  would  come  under  the  class  of  servants  called  slaves. 
Many  of  these  servants,  and  especially  the  slaves,  were 
required  to  do  a  great  amount  of  labor,  and  often  unpleasant 
and  painful  labor,  and  w^ere  exposed  to  suff'erings  of  the 
most  trying  character — sufferings  that  could  scarcely  be 
endured.     And,  notwithstanding  the  hard  and  suffering  con- 


ELDER  JAMES  QUINTER.  331 

dition  of  the  servants  in  those  ancient  times  in  which  the 
apostle  wrote  his  epistle  in  which  our  text  occurs,  it  seems 
that  some  embraced  Christianity.  And  it  was  to  instruct 
and  encourage  and  comfort  these  that  the  apostle  wrote  as 
he  did. 

The  universal  terms  used  by  the  apostle  in  admonishing 
servants  to  faithfulness  to  their  masters,  at  first  thousrht 
might  seem  to  convey  the  idea  that  the  apostle  would 
have  them  to  obey  their  masters  in  spiritual  as  well 
as  in  secular  things:  "Servants,  obey  in  all  things 
your  masters."  But  the  words  ^^  according  to  thefiesh^''  fol- 
lowing the  words  "Servants,  obey  in  all  things  your  mas- 
ters," modify  these  last  words,  and  convey  the  idea  tiiat  the 
relation  between  the  masters  and  servants  was  only  a  tempo- 
rary and  worldly  relation,  and  did  not  extend  to  spiritual 
things.  Or,  in  other  words,  what  seems  to  be  a  universal 
command,  "  Servants,  obey  in  all  things  your  masters," 
must  be  understood  with  the  same  limitation  that  applies  to 
all  the  commands  that  enjoin  relative  duties.  In  all  cases 
in  which  the  commands  of  men  conflict  with  the  laws  of 
God,  we  are  to  "obey  God  rather  than  men." — Acts  v.  29. 

But  the  words,  "and  whatsoever  ye  do,  do  it  heartily,  as 
to  the  Lord,  and  not  unto  men,"  set  secular  and  even  menial 
service  before  us  in  a  manner  that  is  calculated  to  elevate 
and  dignify  all  lawful  human  labor.  These  expressive  words 
of  the  apostle  resolve  all  labor  into  a  divine  service,  for  it 
was  not  the  civil  magistrate  who  is  declared  to  be  "the 
minister  of  God"  (Rom.  xiii.  4),  nor  was  it  the  learned  pro- 
fessor in  our  college  work  in  leading  the  minds  of  youth 
into  the  higher  departments  of  science,  nor  the  teacher  in 
our  common  schools  in  his  useful  and  responsible  calling, 
nor  was  it  any  of  the  many  laborers  in  the  different  offices 
in  the  Christian  church,  that  the  apostle  addressed  when  he 
said,  "  Whatsoever  ye  do,  do  it  heartily,  as  to  the  Lord,  and 


332  SERMONS    OF 

not  unto  men."  But  his  admonition  of  encouragement  was 
given  to  servants,  in  their  humble  calling,  and  oftentimes  in 
their  hard  and  unappreciated  and  unrequited  labors.  And 
probably  it  was  also  designed  for  slaves  whose  manhood 
was  sunk  into  chattels  as  far  as  slavery  could  so  degrade 
them. 

And  what  a  soul-comforting,  soul-inspiring,  and  soul- 
elevating  thought  was  it  to  the  poor  laboring  and  oft 
oppressed  servants,  to  learn  from  their  Christian  brother 
Paul,  who  was  directly  prompted  by  the  Holy  Spirit  to 
speak  to  them  and  for  tliem,  that  if  their  labors  in  their 
lawful  calling  were  sanctified  by  the  spirit  of  Christianity, 
which  they  had  professed,  those  labors  were  done  to  the 
Lord,  and  that  they  would  be  remembered,  and  in  due  time 
be  rewarded  by  him !  This  great  truth  is  plainly  taught  by 
Paul  in  our  text:  "And  whatsoever  ye  do,  do  it  heartily,  as 
to  the  Lord,  and  not  unto  men."  This  language  was 
addressed  directly  to  servants.  And  it  is  very  evident  that 
it  had  reference,  not  to  spiritual  service  or  devotional  duties, 
but  to  secular  labors.  Constituted  as  human  society  is,  and 
bearinar  the  various  relations  to  one  another  that  we  do, 
and  our  interests  being  so  many,  and  so  various,  our  duties 
become  numerous  and  various,  for  it  is  by  the  faithful  per- 
formance of  our  duties  that  we  do  our  part  in  promoting 
the  well-being  of  society.  And  as  God  has  had  the  welfare 
of  mankind  in  view  in  giving  to  all  their  positions  and 
duties,  whether  according  to  the  laws  of  nature  or  revela- 
tion, we  are  serving  God  when  we  are  doing  our  lawful 
work,  whether  in  the  church  or  in  the  world. 

A  due  regard  to  God,  and  a  settled  purpose  of  heart  to 
co-operate  with  him  in  his  benevolent  designs  to  promote 
the  entire  interests  of  our  race,  are  the  governing  principles 
in  the  life  of  Christians.  And  these  principles  should 
govern  masters  and  servants,  and  parents  and  children,  and 


ELDER  JAMES  QUINTER.  333 

all  intelligent  beings  in  all  their  relations  to  one  another. 
And  when  these  principles  do  govern  us,  and  we  possess  that 
state  of  Christian  experience  and  attainment  implied  in  the 
apostle's  language  when  he  sa,ys,  "  Whether,  therefore,  ye 
eat,  or  drink,  or  whatsoever  ye  do,  do  all  to  the  glory  of 
God"  (1  Cor.  10:  31),  our  secular  or  business  duties,  our 
domestic  duties,  our  civil  duties,  and  all  our  duties,  partake 
of  a  religious  character,  and  become  a  part  of  our  religion. 
Christianity  sanctifies  the  whole  life  of  a  truly  faithful 
Christian.  This  grand  truth  is  practically  taught  by  the 
apostle  in  our  text. 

And  as  Christian  servants  were  serving  God  as  well  as 
their  worldly  masters,  they  are  admonished  in  our  text  to 
"  do  it  heartily,  as  to  the  Lord,  and  not  unto  men."  That 
is,  they  were  not  serving  men  only,  or  chiefly,  but  God  also, 
and  they  are  therefore  admonished  to  do  it  lieartily,  or 
sincerely,  for  God  will  accept  of  no  service  but  that  which 
comes  from  the  heart.  This  sincerity  or  heartiness  "in  ser- 
vice alone  distinguishes  it  from  what  the  apostle  calls,  in 
our  text,  ''eye-service." 

Eye-service  is  service  done  under  the  eye  of  the  master. 
Unfaithful  and  dishonest  servants  will  labor  very  diligently, 
perhaps,  while  the  master  or  overseer  is  watching  them. 
But  in  the  absence  of  the  master,  they  will  often  neglect 
their  work.  The  principle  inculcated  by  the  apostle,  and 
which  we  have  been  considering,  namely,  that  the  Lord  is 
the  great  Master  to  whom  all  our  service  should  be  mainly 
directed,  is  calculated,  if  practically  carried  out,  to  make  all 
men  honest  in  their  service  rendered  to  their  masters.  For 
while  they  are  serving  their  worldly  masters,  they  are  also 
serving  God,  and  though  the  eyes  of  the  former  may  not  be 
upon  them,  the  eyes  of  God  always  are.  Unfaithfulness  in 
work  is  a  sin,  and  God  will  see  it,  and  mark  it. 


334  SKRMoKS   OF 

///.     The  reward  of  the  service  rendered  to  Christ. 

It  is  not  every  servant  that  succeeds  in  life  and  makes  a 
fortune.  But  the  Christian  servant  does.  "Ye  shall  receive 
the  reward  of  the  inheritance:  for  ye  serve  the  Lord  Christ." 
Truly,  "Godliness  is  profitable  unto  all  things,  having 
promise  of  the  life  that  now  is,  and  of  that  which  is  to  come." 
1  Tim.  4:  8.  l^otice  it  is  "the  reward  of  the  inheritance." 
The  reward  will  be  a  glorious  possession.  "In  my  Father's 
house,"  said  the  heavenly  Master,  "are  many  mansions:  if  it 
were  not  so,  I  would  have  told  you.  I  go  to  prepare  a  place 
for  you.  And  if  I  go  and  prepare  a  place  for  you,  I  will 
come  again,  and  receive  you  unto  myself;  that  where  I  am, 
there  ye  mav  be  also." — John  14:  2,  3.  Such  are  the  encour- 
aging words  of  the  divine  Master  to  his  servants.  Equally 
encouraging  and  comforting  are  the  following  words  of  the 
Christian's  Master:  "If  any  man  serve  me,  let  him  follow 
me;  and  where  I  am,  there  shall  also  my  servant  be:  if  any 
man  serve  me,  him  will  my  Father  honor." — John  12:  26- 
How  cheering  is  the  prospect  to  the  poor  servant  or  slave, 
who  is  faithfully  serving  "the  Lord  Christ,"  as  well  as  his 
worldly  master,  of  the  "glory,  honor  and  immortality,"  that 
will  reward  his  labors. 

"  A  home  in  heaven!  what  a  joyful  thought, 
As  the  poor  naan  toils  in  his  weary  lot! 
His  heart  oppress'd,  and  with  anguish  driv'n 
From  his  home  below  to  his  home  in  heav'n." 

But  it  is  not  only  the  consideration  of  the  heavenly  inher- 
itance that  should  incite  the  Christian  servant,  and  all 
Christians,  to  faithfulness. in  all  their  relative  duties.  They 
shall  not  only  lose  that  reward  if  they  are  unfaithful  and  do 
wrong,  but  they  "shall  receive  for  the  wrong  "  which  they 
have  done.  This  means  they  shall  be  punished  for  their 
wrong  doing,  for  their  idleness,  their  dishonest}^,  and  for 
their  hypocrisy  and  deceitfulness.     Such  considerations  or 


ELDER   JAMES   QUlNTEB.  335 

incentives  are  well  calculated  to  encourage  us  all  to  perform 
our  duties  and  service  faitbfully,  whatever  troubles  we  may 
have  to  endure  in  the  prosecution  of  our  work. 

1  Y.     The  impartiality  of  the  Divine  Master. 

"  And  there  is  no  respect  of  persons."  This  means 
there  is  no  respect  of  persons  with  him  who  will  be  the  final 
judge  of  both  masters  and  servants.  In  the  last  verse  of 
those  we  have  read,  and  the  first  verse  of  the  fourth  chapter, 
we  have  these  words  :  "  Masters,  give  unto  your  servants  that 
which  is  just  and  equal :  knowing  that  ye  also  have  a  Mas- 
ter in  heaven."  As  we  said  in  the  early  part  of  our  discourse, 
Christ  is  the  common  Master  of  us  all.  He  is  the  Master  of 
human  masters  as  well  as  the  Master  of  the  servants  of  men. 
And  he  Avill  also  be  the  judge  of  masters  as  well  as  of  ser- 
vants. "  And  there  is  no  respect  of  persons  "  with  him. 
"  He  will  judge  the  world  in  righteousness."  And  if  the 
master  has  done  wrong  to  the  servant,  or  the  servant  to 
the  master,  he  shall  receive  for  the  wrong.  And  so  in 
regard  to  all  the  duties  that  have  been  incumbent  upon  us, 
in  consideration  of  the  relations  we  have  sustained  to  one 
another,  and  to  our  heavenly  Master, 

Let  us  imagine,  and  the  scene  will  be  an  impressive  one 
when  it  occurs,  and  it  will  occur,  the  old  Roman  and  Gre- 
cian masters  with  their  servants  and  slaves  standing  before 
the  judgment  seat  of  Christ,  having  justice  meted  out  to  them 
all !  And  we  may  add  to  the  scene,  American  masters 
with  their  slaves!  Alas,  for  the  cruel  tyrant !  But  jo3'ful 
will  be  the  time  to  the  truly  faithful  servant  of  Christ!  And, 
dear  friends,  let  us  not  forget  that  with  those  masters 
and  servants  we  will  all  appear,  to  be  judged  according  to 
our  works,  and  our  everlasting  destiny  will  also  be  accord- 
ing to  our  works.  How  important  then  it  is  that  we  all 
should  be  diligent  and  faithful  servants,  serving  "  the  Lord 
Christ,"  as  he  is  the  Master  of  us  all.  And  if  we  do  so,  we 
shall  receive  "  the  reward  of  the  inheritance." 


336  SERMONS   OF 

XXX. 
A  TEST  OF  CHRISTIAN  CHARACTER. 

"And  every  man  that  hath  this  hope  in  him  purifieth 
himself,  even  as  he  is  pure." — I.  John  3  :  3. 

Our  subject  will  be,  A  Test  of  CJtristian  Character. 
There  are  many  tests  of  Christian  character  presented  unto 
us  in  the  scriptures,  and  that  which  is  contained  in  our  text 
is  one  of  theni.  In  the  verses  preceding  our  text  we  have 
presented  to  us  the  hope  of  the  Christian.  And  from  the 
hope  itself  the  apostle  proceeds  to  notice  the  effects  of  that 
hope,  and  says  in  the  verse  we  have  read  as  our  text,  "And 
every  man  that  hath  this  hope  in  him  purifieth  himself,  even 
as  he  is  pure."  Hence,  we  have  in  our  text,  A  test  of  Chris- 
tian Character.  Every  person  that  is  a  sincere  and  true 
Christian,  and  possesses  and  enjoys  the  hope  of  the  Christian, 
is  represented  in  our  text  to  be  engaged  in  the  work  of 
purifying  himself.  And  all  persons  who  are  not  endeavor- 
ing to  purify  themselves  whatever  their  pretentions  ma}'  be 
to  Christian  character,  and  the  enjoyment  of  the  pleasures 
of  Christian  hope,  have  neither.  And  if  they  think  they 
have,  they  are  deceiving  themselves.  The  accompaniment 
of  Christian  character  and  Christian  hope  is  a  desire  and 
striving  for  purity. 

In  opening  and  applying  our  text,  we  shall  notice, 

I.  The  hope  to  which  allusion  is  made  in  the  text. 

II.  The  effects  of  that  hope. 

Under  these  heads  the  leading  ideas  of  the  text  may  be 
presented. 

I.  The  hope  to  which  allusion  is  made  in  the  text.  The 
verse  preceding  our  text  reads  thus :  "  Beloved,  now  we 
are  the  sons  of  God,  and  it  doth  not  yet  appear  what  we 
shall  be:  but  we  know  that,  when  he  shall  appear,  we  shall 
be  like  him;  for  we  shall  see  him   as   he  is."     Christians 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTER.  337 

already  in  this  life  are  made  the  sons  of  God.  This  sonship 
is  not  a  subject  of  hope,  but  it  is  now  possessed.  It  is  pos- 
sessed when  the  new  birth  of  the  Christian  takes  places,  or 
when  he  is  "  born  of  water  and  of  the  spirit."  John  3  :  5. 
Or  "  by  the  word  of  God."  I  Peter  1  :  23.  But  while  Chris- 
tians are  made  the  sons  of  God  at  the  time  of  their  regener- 
ation, and  are  put  into  possession  of  all  the  honor  and  blessed- 
ness that  are  implied  in  that  relation,  these  do  not  consti- 
tute all  that  the  saints  are  entitled  to.  There  is  more 
reserved  for  them,  and  this  constitutes  the  hope  of  Christians 
while  they  are  in  this  life.  Hope  covers  or  embraces  all  that 
is  reserved  for  Christians  in  the  life  that  is  to  come.  They 
are  to  see  and  be  like  the  Lord.  And  in  presenting  this  form 
of  the  Christian  hope  as  we  have  it  in  connection  with  our 
text,  we  may  notice, 

I.  The  seeing  of  the  Lord,  "We  shall  see  him  as  he  is." 
That  is,  as  he  is,  or  will  be  when  he  makes  his  appearance. 
We  have  the  same  idea  presented  to  us  in  a  passage  in  Paul's 
epistle  to  Titus.  And  it  is  there  presented  in  a  very  impres- 
sive manner.  Christians  are  represented  as  "Looking  for 
that  blessed  hope,  and  the  glorious  appearing  of  the  great 
God  and  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ." — Titus  2  :  13.  Here,  as 
in  the  verse  preceding  our  text,  the  hope  of  the  Christian 
is  represented  to  be  the  witnessing  of  the  "  glorious  appear- 
ing of  the  great  God  and  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ."  It  is  to 
be  a  glorious  appearance.  We  have  the  representation  of 
it,  in  some  degree,  in  the  transfiguration  of  our  Saviour  on 
the  mountain,  in  the  presence  of  three  of  the  disciples,  Peter, 
James  and  John.  "And  after  six  days  Jesus  taketh  with 
him  Peter  and  James  and  John,  and  leadeth  them  up  into 
high  mountain  apart  by  themselves:  and  he  was  trans- 
figured before  them.  And  his  raiment  became  shining 
exceeding  white  as  snow  ;  so  as  no  fuller  on  earth  can  white 
them." — Mark  9  :  2.     This  indeed  was  a  "glorious  appearing 


338  SERMONS   OF 

of  the  great  God  and  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ."  And  some- 
thing like  this  will  be  the  appearance  of  our  Saviour  when 
he  comes  the  "second  time  without  sin  unto  salvation,"  only 
his  appearance  at  his  second  coming  will,  if  possible,  be  still 
more  glorious.  For  when  he  comes  in  the  glory  of  his  sec- 
ond advent,  he  will  be  accompanied  by  angels  and  by  his 
saints.  And  this  will  greatly  add  to  the  grandeur  and  glory 
of  the  scene.  The  sight  will  be  a  glorious  one,  the  face  of 
our  Lord  shining  as  the  sun,  and  his  "  raiment  white  as  the 
light !  "  It  is  very  difficult,  and  indeed  impossible,  for  us  to 
properly  conceive  tlie  glory  of  the  appearance  of  our  Lord, 
at  his  second  coming,  though  we  have  the  transfiguration 
on  the  mountain  to  help  us  to  form  an  idea  of  his  glorious 
appearance  at  that  time.  And  probably  the  transfiguration 
of  our  Lord  while  he  was  here  on  earth  the  first  time  was 
designed  in  part  to  assist  us  in  forming  a  proper  idea  of  his 
appearance  at  his  second  coming. 

We  would  remind  \'ou  that  the  glorious  sight  that  con- 
stitutes in  part  the  hope  of  the  Christian  is  said  to  be  the 
''appearing  of  the  great  God  and  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ." 
So  Paul  expresses  it,  John  referring  morepai'ticularly  to  the 
Father  when  he  says,  ''We  know  that  when  he  shall  appear, 
we  shall  be  like  him,  for  we  shall  see  him  as  he  is,"  might 
seem  to  refer  to  the  appearing  of  the  Father.  But  as  he 
had  been  speaking  of  the  Son  in  the  previous  chapter,  and 
as  the  idea  of  the  Son  pervades  his  writing  more  or  less 
throughout,  we  may  consider  the  Son  as  the  character 
referred  to.  We,  however,  have  the  idea  presented  unto  us 
in  the  scripture,  that  we  shall  see  God  as  well  as  the  Son  of 
God,  and,  consequently,  John,  in  the  verse  preceding  our  text, 
may  have  reference  to  the  Father  as  well  as  to  the  Son.  Christ 
was  God  manifested  in  the  flash.  Hence  he  said  to  Philip, 
"  he  that  hath  seen  me  hath  seen  the  Father." — John  14  :  9. 
And  it  is  altogether  likely,  tliat  when  our  Lord  comes  at  his 


ELDER   JAMES   QUINTER.  339 

second  advent,  there  will  be  a  much  clearer  manifestation  of 
God  than  there  ever  had  been  before.  This  is  probably  the 
reason  why  the  glorious  appearing  at  our  Lord's  second 
advent  embraces  the  appearing  of  the  Father  as  well  as 
that  of  the  Son.  "  The  glorious  appearing  of  the  great  God, 
and  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ." 

But  let  us  look  at  the  manner  in  which  we  shall  see  the 
Lord.  There  is  a  sense  in  which  we  see  the  Lord  now,  or  in 
this  life.  But  now,  "  we  walk  by  faith  and  not  by  sight." — 
2  Cor.  5:7.  To  our  believing  minds  things  present  them- 
selves as  we  have  learned  them,  and  as  we  have  believed 
them.  Last  night  while  we  were  attending  to  the  ordinances 
and  services  belonging  to  our  meeting,  many  things  were 
presented  to  our  minds  if  we  were  properly  engaged  in  the 
religious  work  of  the  occasion,  and  we  saw  them  by  faith. 
While  we  were  engaged  in  washing  one  another's  feet,  in 
obedience  to  our  Lord's  command,  had  we  not  our  Lord 
before  us  performing  the  same  work  that  we  were  doing  ? 
No  doubt  we  had.  And  in  our  mental  visions  we  saw  our 
blessed  Redeemer  bowing  himself  to  wash  his  disciples'  feet. 
So,  when  we  were  commemorating  his  death  by  the  expres- 
sive symbols  we  used,  did  we  not  by  faith  see  him  nailed  to 
the  cross,  and  dying  as  a  ransom  to  redeem  us  from  the 
curse  of  the  law  ?  In  that  suffering  condition  we  saw  the 
Lord  by  faith. 

But  this  is  not  the  way  in  which  we  shall  see  him  when 
he  comes  again  to  complete  our  redemption.  It  is  not  by 
faith  that  we  shall  then  see  him,  but  by  the  sense  of  sight, 
for  it  is  said,  "Behold,  he  cometh  with  clouds;  and  every 
eye  shall  see  him."— Rev.  1 :  Y.  And  the  angels  addressed 
the  disciples  as  they  were  gazing  into  heaven  when  the 
Saviour  ascended  from  them,  as  follows  :  "  Ye  men  of  Gali- 
lee, why  stand  ye  gazing  up  into  heaven  ?  this  same  Jesus, 
which  is  taken  up  from  you  unto  heaven,  shall  so  come  in  like 


340  SERMONS   OF 

manner  as  ye  have  seen  him  go  into  heaven." — Acts  1 :  11. 
Another  passage  that  shows  that  his  coming  will  be  a  visi- 
ble coming  is  the  following:  "And  they  shall  say  to  you, 
see  here ;  or,  see  there  :  go  not  after  them,  nor  follow  them. 
For  as  the  lightning,  that  lighteneth  out  of  the  one  part 
under  heaven,  shineth  unto  the  other  part  under  heaven  ;  so 
shall  also  the  Son  of  man  be  in  his  day." — Luke  17  :  23, 
24.  But  the  language  of  Job  is  very  clear  and  expressive. 
It  is  this :  "  For  I  know  that  my  Eedeemer  liveth,  and  that 
he  shall  stand  at  the  latter  day  upon  the  earth :  and  thougti 
after  my  skin  worms  destroy  this  body,  yet  in  my  flesh  shall 
I  see  God ;  whom  I  shall  see  for  myself,  and  mine  eyes  shall 
behold,  and  not  another." — Job  19  :  25-27.  Job's  views  of 
the  future  were  very  definite  and  positive.  "  Yet  in  my 
flesh  I  shall  see  God."  The  mind  has  eyes  with  which  we 
can  see  God  by  faith,  as  we  have  already  remarked.  But 
Job  speaks  of  seeing  God  in  the  flesh,  that  is,  his  Redeemer 
and  of  beholding  him  with  his  eyes.  It  is,  however,  in  the 
resurrection  state  that  he  and  all  the  saints  will  behold  the 
Redeemer.  And  this  appearing  of  our  glorified  Lord  to  his 
saints  is  now  their  hope,  and  it  will  be  to  them  an  unspeaka 
ble  enjoyment  when  they  realize  it.  To  see  him  face  to 
face,  and  not  through  a  glass  darkly,  will  be  a  sigljt  that  will 
fill  the  soul  with  delight  and  rapture. 

This  language  of  Job  implies  a  personal  view  of  the 
Redeemer.  "  Whom  I  shall  see  for  myself,  and  mine  eyes 
shall  behold,  and  not  another."  This  language  means  that 
Job  himself  would  see  his  Redeemer,  and  not  another  see 
him  for  him.  In  our  present  state,  much  of  our  knowledge 
comes  through  others.  In  our  early  Christian  life,  much 
that  we  learn  of  the  dealings  of  God  with  his  people,  we 
learn  through  the  experience  of  others.  You  young  Chris- 
tian believers  have  not  yet  learned  what  older  ones  have  of 
the  gracious  dealings  of  the  Lord  with  his  people.     That  is, 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTER.  341 

you  have  not  learned  it  by  experience,  but  you  have  learned 
it  from  others.  In  due  time,  if  3'ou  are  faithful,  you  will 
experience  it  yourselves.  You  will  know  it,  not  merely  from 
the  testimony  of  others,  but  by  your  own  consciousness. 
Much  that  we  know  bj'  faith,  we  shall  hereafter  know  by 
our  own  consciousness,  or  by  our  own  senses,  we  mean  by 
the  senses  of  our  spiritual  bodies,  for  we  shall  have  spiritual 
bodies,  1  Cor.  15  :  44,  and  with  the  eyes  of  those  spiritual 
bodies  we  shall  behold  "  the  glorious  appearing  of  the  Great 
God  and  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ."  And  we  shall  behold 
him  ourselves,  and  obtain  a  knowledge  of  him  from  our  own 
personal  observation  and  experience.  We  now  know  some- 
thing of  the  glory  and  character  of  our  Lord's  appearing. 
Peter,  James  and  John  saw  him  in  his  glorified  state,  and 
they  have  communicated  unto  us  what  they  saw  and  felt 
when  on  the  mount  of  transfiguration.  And  we  read  their 
account  with  interest  and  delight.  But  we  now  get  the 
knowledge  from  others.  After  a  while  we  shall  see  him  for 
ourselves,  and  have  all  the  holy  pleasure  and  delight  of  see- 
ing our  blessed  Lord  in  his  glorified  form,  with  his  face  shin- 
ing as  the  sun,  and  his  raiment  white  as  the  light.  This  is 
a  part  of  the  hope  we  have  in  us,  and  this  hope  will  be  fully 
realized  in  due  time. 

2.  But  however  delightful  the  thought  of  seeing  our 
Kedeemer  in  his  glorified  form  is  to  us,  filling  as  it  does  the 
believing  soul  with  holy  rapture,  this  is  not  the  climax  or 
the  full  extent  of  the  hope  alluded  to  in  our  text.  And  we 
proceed  to  notice  that  we  shall  not  only  see  our  Redeemer 
when  he  comes  in  his  glory,  but  we  shall  be  like  him.  "We 
know  that,  when  we  shall  appear,  we  shall  be  like  him ;  for 
we  shall  see  him  as  he  is."  This  is  still  better.  To  see  him 
as  he  will  be  when  he  comes,  by  his  own  people,  those  who 
love  his  appearance,  and  to  enjoy  his  presence,  and  to  be 
with  him  forever,  expresses  a  degree  of  "  joy  that  is  unspeaka 


342  SERMONS   OF 

ble  and  full  of  glory."  And  if  so,  what  shall  be  the  effect 
of  the  thought  of  being  like  him!  This  seems  to  be  almost 
too  much  for  the  mind  to  grasp,  or  our  faith  to  believe.  But 
that  is  no  more  than  what  is  promised,  and  for  the  enjoy- 
ment of  it,  God  will  prepare  us.  "  Beloved,  now  are  we  the 
sons  of  God,  and  it  aoth  not  yet  appear,  what  we  shall  be ; 
but  we  know  that,  when  he  shall  appear,  we  shall  be  like 
him ;  for  we  shall  see  him  as  he  is."  Yes,  it  is  indeed  so, 
"  it  doth  not  yet  appear  what  we  shall  be."  We  only  know 
that  we  shall  be  like  our  Lord,  and  that  is  enough  to  fill  us 
with  holy  joy.  "  Our  conversation  is  in  heaven ;  from 
whence  also  we  look  for  the  Saviour,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ; 
who  shall  change  our  vile  body,  that  it  may  be  fashioned 
like  unto  his  glorious  body,  according  to  the  working  where- 
by he  is'able  even  to  subdue  all  things  unto  himself."  Phil. 
3  :  20,  21.  This  is  plain  and  positive.  Our  Lord's  glorious 
body  is  the  pattern,  and  the  divine  power  that  which  is  to 
conform  us  to  that  pattern.  The  hope  itself  is  great,  but 
the  foundation  which  sustains  it  is  amply  able  to  do  so. 

II.  We  shall  notice  in  the  next  place  the  effects  of 
this  hope.  And  every  man  that  hath  this  hope  in  him  puri- 
fied himself  even  as  Christ  is  pure.  The  fifth  verse  of  the 
chapter  from  which  our  text  is  taken  reads  as  follows :  "And 
ye  know  that  he  was  manifested  to  take  away  our  sins;  and 
in  him  is  no  sin."  Thea  our  Lord  is  not  only  pure  in  him- 
self, but  he  came  into  the  world  to  make  men  pure.  And 
different  considerations  require  that  those  who  profess  to  be 
the  disciples  of  Christ  should  purify  themselves,  (a)  Con- 
sistency requires  it.  As  Christ  himself  is  pure,  and  as  the 
heaven  which  he  has  promised  to  his  people  and  for  which 
he  has  prepared  them  is  pure,  it  would  seem  to  follow  that 
they  should  be  pure.  If  they  love  a  pure  Saviour,  and 
desire  to  enjoy  a  pure  heaven,  the}'^  can  not  with  any  con- 
sistency take  any  pleasure    in  sin,  or  have  any  fellowship 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTER.  343 

with  it.  It  is  altogether  inconsistent  with  Christian  charac- 
ter, Christian  hope,  and  Christian  principles. 

(b.)  The  safety  of  Christians  also  requires  their  purity. 
Sin  is  destructive  as  well  as  corrupting  in  its  tendency.  It 
was  because  sin  disqualifies  men  for  the  fellowship  of  God, 
and  the  enjoyment  of  heaven,  that  Christ  came  to  save  sin- 
ners. And  if  sinners  can  be  saved  in  their  sins,  why  did  Christ 
come  and  suffer  and  die?  But  we  can  not  go  to  heaven 
defiled  by  sin.  Of  the  holy  city,  the  new  Jerusalem,  the 
future  home  of  the  saints,  it  is  said,  "And  there  shall  in  no 
wise  enter  into  it  anything  that  defileth,  neither  whatsoever 
worketh  abomination,  or  maketh  a  lie ;  but  they  which  are 
written  in  the  Lamb's  book  of  life."  Surely  then  every 
man  that  has  the  hope  of  becoming  an  inhabitant  of  that 
city  must  purify  himself.  And  our  Lord  says,  "  Blessed  are 
the  pure  in  heart :  for  they  shall  see  God."  Matt.  5:8.  It 
follows  that  the  impure  shall  not  see  him. 

Finally,  let  it  be  noticed  that  this  work  of  purification  is 
a  work  that  every  man  must  do  for  himself.  "Every  man 
that  hath  this  hope  in  him  purifleth  himself."  Another  can 
not  do  this  work  for  us.  Each  one  of  us  must  do  it  for  him- 
self. God  through  Christ  has  provided  the  means  for  puri- 
fication, and  we  are  to  apply  those  means.  These  means 
are  contained  in  the  gospel  of  Christ,  and  by  properly 
observing  them,  purification  of  heart,  life  and  character  will 
follow.  Hence  the  following  language  of  Peter:  "Seeing 
ye  have  purified  your  souls  in  obeying  the  truth  through  the 
Spirit  unto  unfeigned  love  of  the  brethren,  see  that  ye  love 
one  another  with  a  pure  heart  fervently  :  being  born  again, 
not  of  corruptible  seed,  but  of  incorruptible,  by  the  word  of 
God,  which  liveth  and  abideth  for  ever."  I.  Peter  1 :  22,  23. 
It  is  then  by  obeying  "the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,"  that  we 
purify  ourselves. 

In  view  of  the  glorious  character  of  the  Christian  hope, 


344  SERMONS    OF 

and  of  its  great  importance,  let  us  become  Christians  as  we 
all  may  do,  and  "  cleanse  ourselves  from  all  filthiness  of  the 
flesh  and  spirit,  perfecting  holiness  in  the  fear  of  the  Lord." 
2  Cor.  1 : 1.  Then  we  shall  see  the  Lord,  be  like  hira,  and 
be  for  ever  with  him. 


XXXI. 
CHRISTIANITY  A  HID  TREASURE. 

"Again,  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto  treasure  hid 
in  a  field  ;  the  which  when  a  man  hath  found,  he  hideth,  and 
for  joy  thereof  goeth  and  selleth  all  that  he  hath,  and  buy- 
eth  the  field."— Matt.  13  :  44. 

Our  text  is  one  of  seven  parables  which  our  Lord  here 
uses  to  illustrate  "  the  kingdom  of  heaven  "  or  Christianity 
for  we  may  regard  the  phrase,  "  the  kingdom  of  heaven  "  as 
here  used  equivalent  to  Christianity.  And  each  of  these 
parables  present  something  peculiar  to  Christianity,  or  pre- 
sents it  under  some  aspect  different  to  what  the  others  do. 
And  the  great  Christian  teacher  in  using  so  many  parables 
or  metaphors  to  illustrate  '•  the  kingdom  of  heaven  "  under 
its  various  aspects  shows  the  greatness  and  the  richness 
of  kis  subject,  and  his  anxiety  to  have  it  fully  understood  by 
his  hearers  under  all  its  various  and  numerous  aspects.  Our 
Lord  in  his  teaching  fully  appreciated  the  ignorance  of  men 
concerning  divine  and  heavenly  things,  and  the  difficulties 
the  teachers  who  taught  them  spiritual  things  had  to  con- 
tend with,  in  communicating  to  them  a  knowledge  of  such 
things,  and  hence  his  frequent  use  of  parables,  and  of  par- 
ables, too,  of  the  plainest  kind.  His  teaching  was  character- 
ized by  great  wisdom,  discretion,  earnestness,  tenderness  and 
persuasion ;  and  it  was  not  without  the  greatest  propriety 
that  it  was  said  of  Him,  "  Never  man  spake  like  this  man." 


ELDER    JAMES    QUINTER.  345 

The  {)arable  of  our  text  is  comprised  in  the  single  verse 
that  we  have  read.  It  is  short,  but  very  expressive.  "  The 
kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto  treasure  hid  in  a  field;  the 
vviiich,  when  a  man  hath  found,  he  hideth,  and  for  joy  thereof 
goeth  and  selleth  all  that  he  hath  and  buyeth  that  field." 
To  understand  the  parable,  and  to  see  its  beauty  and  fitness, 
we  must  bear  in  mind  the  state  of  thmgs  concerning  the 
hiding  of  treasures  as  they  exist  in  the  East.  In  the  parable 
there  is  represented  as  a  treasure,  money  or  something 
precious  buried  in  the  earth  by  the  person  who  had  owned 
it.  This  was  done  that  it  might  be  kept  in  safety.  The 
people  in  the  East  had  not  the  safes,  and  banks,  and  the 
various  facilities  for  securing  their  money  and  jewels  that 
we  have.  And  yet  the  state  of  society,  and  the  frequent 
changes  of  the  governments  under  which  the  people  lived, 
made  it  necessary'  for  them  to  secure  their  money  well,  if 
they  would  not  lose  it.  It  is  said  that  many  rich  men  in  the 
East  divide  their  goods  into  three  parts,  thus:  One  part 
they  employ  in  trade,  or  for  their  present  support ;  one  part 
they  turn  into  jew- els,  which  they  can  take  with  them  should 
it  be  necessary  for  them  to  flee ;  while  they  bury  the  third 
part.  Then  should  they  go  to  war  and  be  killed,  or  should 
they  go  away  and  not  return,  it  would  remain  hid  until  by 
chance  some  lucky  person,  while  walking  over  the  field,  or 
plowing  or  digging  in  the  field,  w^ould  find  it.  For  the  owner 
would  not  permit  any  person  to  know  where  he  had  buried 
his  treasure.  Where  this  practice  obtains,  persons  very  often 
in  a  very  short  time  rise  from  poverty  to  great  wealth  by 
finding  a  hidden  treasure.  And  when  such  a  treasure  would 
be  found  it  would  cause  great  joy  to  hira  who  found  it ; 
and  to  a  person  thus  finding  a  hid  treasure,  and  experiencing 
great  joy  at  the  result,  our  Lord  compares  a  person  finding 
or  obtaining  the  "  kingdom  of  heaven,"  or  Christianity. 


346  SEBMONS   OF 

This  parable,  with  its  practical  instructions,  we  propose 
to  call  your  attention  to  this  evening.  Our  subject  will  be, 
Christianity  a  hid  treasure^  and  several  important  lessons 
may  be  learned  from  the  parable. 

1.  We  ohserve  that  Christianity  is  a  treasure,  or  some- 
thing of  great  value.  You  all  know  that  a  treasure  is  some- 
thing of  great  value.  But  there  is  one  idea  in  a  treasure 
that  is  not  always  noticed,  and  it  agrees  so  well  in  its 
present  application  to  Christianity,  that  we  will  give  Web- 
ster's explanation,  and  in  that  we  have  the  idea  I  have 
alluded  to.  He  thus  describes  treasure :  1.  "Wealth  accu- 
mulated ;  especially,  a  stock  or  store  of  money  in  reserve. 
2.  A  great  quantity  of  anything  collected  for  future  use  ; 
abundance."  You  will  notice  that  there  is  in  Webster's 
definition  of  treasure  an  idea  in  reference  to  the  future. 
This  is  the  idea  we  alluded  to  when  we  said  there  is  an  idea 
in  the  meaning  of  treasure  that  is  not  always  noticed. 
Webster  brings  out  this  idea.  He  makes  it  something  in 
*•  reserve,"  something  "for  future  use."  How  well  this 
expresses  the  character  of  Christianity.  It  is  indeed  a 
treasure  held  in  reserve,  and  for  future  use  as  well  as  for 
present  use. 

There  are  several  rules  by  which  the  value  of  an  object 
is  to  be  estimated.  We  can  but  notice  a  couple  of  these  for 
want  of  time.  There  are  several  points  in  the  parable  that 
we  want  to  bring  out.  1.  The  first  rule  that  we  shall  notice 
is  the  decision  of  competent  judges.  Whatever  object  is 
declared  valuable  by  persons  whose  judgments  are  con- 
sidered good  upon  such  subjects,  will  have  for  this  reason  a 
reputation  for  goodness.  There  is  a  pretty  general  inclina- 
tion or  readiness  to  give  weight  to  the  authority  of  those 
we  think  are  competent  to  judge.  Young  people,  though 
very  often  not  as  submissive  to  their  parents  as  they  should 
be,  still  they  will  pretty  generally  have  respect  to  the  judg- 


ELDER   JAMES   QUINTER.  347 

merit  of  their  parents.  We  think  it  very  likely  that  some  of 
you  students  that  are  here  at  school,  are  here  because  your 
parents  thought  it  would  be  well  for  you  to  come.  Perhaps 
they  told  you  that  the}'  experienced  disadvantages  from 
their  want  of  a  better  education,  and  advised  you  to  go  to 
school,  though  your  own  inclination  may  not  have  been  very 
strong  in  that  direction. 

Now  let  us  apply  the  foregoing  thoughts  to  Christianity. 
And  we  ask  your  attention  to  the  fact,  that  we  have  in  our 
text  the  judgment  of  .  the  Son  of  God  upon  the  value  of 
Christianity.  He  declares  it  is  like  a  treasure.  You  all  will 
acknowledge  His  competency  to  judge.  He  knows,  and 
knows  well,  what  is  most  conducive  to  man's  interests  and 
happiness.  And  his  counsel  is,  "  Seek  ye  first  the  kingdom 
of  God,  and  his  righteousness."  He  is  our  friend.  He, 
moved  by  love  and  pity,  came  to  save  us,  and  gave  his  life  a 
ransom  for  us.  Surely  He  would  not  deceive  us.  Then  we 
have  the  weight  of  his  divine  judgment  in  favor  of  right- 
eousness. This  should  have  great  influence  upon  us.  And 
let  us  hear  Paul's  testimony:  "  What  things  were  gain  to 
me,  those  I  counted  loss  to  Christ.  Yea,  doubtless,  and  I 
count  all  things  but  loss,  for  the  excellency  of  the  knowl- 
edge of  Christ  Jesus  m}-  Lord,  for  whom  I  suffer  the  loss  of 
all  things,  and  do  count  them  but  dung,  that  I  may  win 
Christ."  Phil.  3 ;  7,  8.  And  what  would  be  the  testimony 
of  departed  saints  could  we  get  their  judgment?  We  hear 
them  exclaim  as  the  stand  upon  the  sea  of  glass,  "  Just  and 
true  are  thy  ways,  thou  king  of  saints.  Who  shall  not  fear 
thee,  O  Lord,  and  glorify  thy  name  ?  for  thou  only  are  holy; 
for  all  nations  shall  come  and  worship  before  thee ;  for  thy 
judgments  are  made  manifest."  Rev.  15  :3, 4.  And  what  is 
the  verdict  of  the  lost  in  regard  to  the  value  of  Christianity? 
We  have  this  given  in  a  very  impressive  manner  in  the  case 
of  the  rich  man.     "  Then   he  said,  I   pray  thee  therefore, 


348  SERMONS    OF 

father,  that  thou  wouldst  send  him  to  my  father's  house :  for 
I  have  five  brethren ;  that  he  may  testify  unto  them,  lest 
they  also  come  into  this  place  of  torment."  Luke  16  :  27,  28, 
And  what  is  the  judgment  of  men  and  women  generally,  in 
regard  to  the  importance  and  value  of  Christianity?  How- 
ever indifferent  people  may  be  to  the  practice  of  Christian- 
ity, they  will  very  generally  acknowledge  the  necessity  of 
it  to  prepare  them  for  death  and  eternity. 

2.  In  estimating  the  value  of  an  object,  its  durabiUty  is 
taken  into  consideration.  This  principle  is  recognized  and 
applied  more  or  less  in  all  the  common  affairs  of  life. 
Things  that  wear  well,  and  will  last  a  long  time,  are  con- 
sidered more  valuable  than  those  that  are  of  but  short  dura- 
tion. The  gospel  is  an  "  everlasting  gospel."  Rev.  14:6.  It 
is  the  '■Hjicorruptible  seed,"  "the  word  of  God,  which  liveih 
and  abideth  forever.''''  1  Peter  1 :  23.  And  the  character  and 
joys  produced  by  this  "everlasting  gospel"  will  endure  for- 
ever. "In  thy  presence,"  said  David,  addressing  the  Lord, 
" is  fullness  of  joy;  at  thy  right  hand  there  are  pleasures 
forevermore."  Ps.  16 :  11.  Heavenly  joys  and  pleasures  are 
enduring.  They  will  never  cloy,  never  get  old,  and  never 
wear  out.  How  valuable  they  are !  They  are  for  future 
use  as  well  as  for  present  enjoyment  according  to  the  mean- 
ing of  treasure,  as  already  noticed. 

11.  We  notice  in  the  next  place  that  "the  kingdom  of 
heaven,"  or  Christianity  is  "  hid."  It  is,  to  a  certain  degree, 
unknown  to  the  great  mass  of  people.  While  the  gospel 
and  church  are  in  the  world,  and  while  the  gospel  is 
preached,  and  the  church  organized  in  many  places,  never- 
theless, the  real  excellency,  the  true  value,  and  the  heavenly 
character  of  Christianity  is  but  very  imperfectly  understood 
and  knowm.  The  fact  that  there  are  so  many  that  do  not 
possess  and  enjoy  it,  is  proof  clear  that  they  do  not  under- 
stand and  appreciate  its  value.     When  this  heavenly  treasure 


ELDER  JAMES  QUINTER.  349 

is  known,  it  will  be  accepted  and  possessed.  "While  the  mul- 
titude may  see  much  in  Christianity  to  admire,  they  but  see 
its  outward  form ;  of  its  greatest  beauties  and  charms  and 
worth  they  are  ignorant. 

1.  One  cause  of  the  prevailing  ignorance  of  the  real 
excellency  and  value  of  Christianity  is  the  want  of  close 
attention  to  it  on  the  part  of  many  people.  While  they  fre- 
quently hear  it  discoursed  upon  from  the  pulpit,  and  read 
about  it  in  books,  yet  they  do  not  examine  it  carefully  and 
candidly,  and  as  a  subject  in  which  they  are  deeply  and 
personally  concerned.  Hence  their  views  of  it  are  vague 
and  superficial. 

2.  Another  reason  why  Christianity  is  in  a  considerable 
degree  hidden  from  people  is  owing  to  the  spirituality  of  its 
nature.  The  natural  man  does  not  discern  spiritual  things 
in  their  true  light  and  importance.  "The  natural  man 
receiveth  not  the  things  of  the  spirit  of  God :  for  they 
are  foolishness  unto  Him :  neither  can  he  know  them,  because 
they  are  spiritually  discerned."  I  Cor.  2  :  14.  To  appre- 
ciate both  the  excellency  and  importance  of  Christianity  it 
is  very  desirable  that  there  be  some  moral  culture  in  people. 
To  a  heart  so  morally  corrupt  that  it  loves  and  takes  pleasure 
only  in  what  is  evil,  the  pure  principles  and  heavenly  enjoy- 
ments of  the  Gospel  will  not  have  much  attraction.  We  can 
but  appreciate,  understand  and  enjoy  that  to  a  very  limited 
degree,  with  which  we  have  no  sympathy,  and  to  which  we 
have  no  resemblance."  Hence  Paul  says  in  the  language 
above  quoted,  that  the  natural  man  can  not  know  things  of 
the  Spirit.  There  is  so  little  sympathy  and  affiliation 
between  the  natural  or  smful  man  and  the  pure  and  holy 
things  of  the  Spirit,  that  the  sinful  man  but  very  imperfectly 
appreciates  them.  And  hence  moral  culture  in  people  will 
prepare  the  way  for  the  appreciation  and  reception  of  the 
Gospel. 


350  SERMONS   OF 

There  is  an  idea  connected  with  the  foregoing  train  of 
thought  to  which  we  would  call  the  special  attention  of 
believers.  It  is  this  :  The  purer  and  holier  we  are  the  more 
will  we  appreciate,  love  and  enjoy  Gospel  holiness,  and  the 
more  anxiously  will  we  cultivate  and  pursue  it.  Who  is  it 
that  have  the  most  and  strongest  asperations  after  heavenly 
enjoyments  and  heavenly  feelings,  and  who  sing  with  the 
spirit  and  the  understanding  the  familiar  and  expressive 
words  of  the  poet 

"  Nearer,  my  God,  to  thee, 
Nearer  to  thee  ! 
E'en  though  it  be  a  cross 
That  raiseth  me? " 

And  who  is  it  that  fill  their  places  in  the  sanctuary  the  most 
punctually,  and  are  found  at  the  prayer  meeting,  and  at  the 
Bible  class  the  most  frequently  ?  It  is  those  who  appreciate 
the  most  the  "hid  treasure,"  and  who  have  experienced  its 
sanctifying  influence  to  the  greatest  degree,  and  who  enjoy 
the  divine  comforts  of  the  Gospel  the  most.  In  other  words, 
it  is  those  who  are  the  most  holy.  They  know  more  of  the 
"  hid  treasure,"  because  they  are  the  more  assimilated  to  it, 
and  the  more  they  know  of  it  the  more  they  want  to  know 
of  it. 

There  is  a  class  of  professing  Christians  that  seem  to  be 
"at  ease  in  Zion"  (Amos  6  :  1),  and  who  seem  to  be  per- 
fectly satisfied  with  their  present  attainments  in  the  divine 
life.  If  you  were  fully  acquainted  with  their  prayers  and 
meditations  it  is  to  be  feared  you  would  never  hear  them 
bemoaning  their  errors  and  failings,  or  anxiously  calling 
upon  God  for  a  deeper  work  of  grace  in  them,  and  for  a 
more  heavenly  frame  of  mind.  The  "  hid  treasure  "  remains 
in  a  great  measure  hidden  to  them,  and  they  have  not  dis- 
covered its  concealed  beauties  and  excellencies  sufficiently  to 
appreciate  its  depths  of  joy  and  heights  of  bliss.     And  their 


ELDER  JAMP:S   QUINTER.  35| 

hearts  have  never  been  aglow  with  the  love  of  God  shed 
abroad  in  them  by  the  Holy  Spirit. 

Yes,  brethren,  the  more  we  know  of  the  hid  treasure,  the 
more  we  shall  want  to  know  of  it,  and  the  more  shall  we 
want  to  enjoy  of  it. 

III.  We  pass  on  to  notice  that  when  men  are  conmnced 
of  the  value  -and  importiince  of  Christianity,  they  will  he 
(inxious  to  obtain  it. 

According  to  the  parable,  the  man  found  the  treasure, 
apparently  without  being  in  search  of  it.  In  the  next  para- 
ble, namely,  that  of  the  merchantman  seeking  goodly  pearls, 
the  merchantman  is  represented  as  seekhig  for  pearls.  These 
two  parables  teach  some  things  in  common,  but,  each  one 
has  something  peculiar  to  itself,  especially  in  regard  to  the 
different  ways  in  which  the  gospel  is  received  in  the  begin- 
ning of  a  Christian  life.  The  parable  of  the  "  hid  treasure," 
represents  the  class  of  persons  who  find  Christianity  with- 
out making  any  special  effort  to  do  so. 

Such  persons,  and  oftentimes  young  people  are  among 
these,  may  go  to  the  house  of  God  with  no  special  design  or 
even  desire  to  obtain  salvation.  But  the  truth  reaches  and 
effects  the  heart  in  a  way  that  leads  to  conversion.  The 
mind  from  some  circumstance,  and  it  may  be  because  of  the 
presence  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  is  in  a  favorable  state  for  the 
reception  of  the  truth,  and  the  truth  enters  with  its  enlight- 
ening and  convicting  power,  and  conversion  followed.  And 
it  is  not  always  under  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  that  a 
I'eligious  feeling  comes  over  the  mind  that  leads  to  conver- 
sion. It  may  be  under  other  circumstances;  it  may  be 
when  persons  are  alone,  or  are  under  some  circumstances  that 
bring  divine  subjects  to  the  mind,  and  the  mind  becomes 
interested  in  them,  and  yields  to  their  influence.  The 
Samaritan  woman  is  a  representative  of  this  class  of  persons. 
When  she  left  her  home,  it  was  not  to  seek  the  Lord.     She 


^52  SERMOKS    OF 

went  to  the  well  for  water.  But  she  came  unexpectedly  upon 
the  treasure  of  truth  there.  In  her  interview  with  our 
Lord,  her  mind  was  enlightened  and  slie  recognized  him  to 
be  the  Messiah.  See  tiie  circumstance  in  the  4Lh  chapter  of 
the  gospel  by  John.  When  the  truth  thus  comes  to  the 
heart,  apj)arently  unsought,  as  it  does  come  to  man}'^  persons, 
it  should  be  accepted  and  that  too  with  the  eagerness  with 
which  the  man  secured  the  hid  treasure  when  he  discovered 
it.  If  it  is  not  then  accepted  and  secured,  it  may  be  that  it 
will  have  to  be  souglit  for  afterwards  with  much  diligence 
and  perseverance  if  it  is  found.  It  will  liave  to  be  sought  as 
the  man  sought  the  pearls  in  the  other  -mrable  we  have 
alluded  to,  the  one  following  our  text. 

lY.  We  notice  in  the  nextplaee  the  manner  in  which  the 
treasure  of  saving  grace  is  obtained. 

Often  has  the  individual,  so  to  speak,  walked  over  the  field 
of  the  gospel,  and,  though  he  may  have  admired  much  in  it, 
he  did  not  see  the  importance  and  value  of  Clirist.  But  his 
attention  is  now  arrested  as  it  never  was  before.  And  he 
feels  an  interest  in  Christianity  that  he  never  felt  before. 
And  he  determines  to  obtain  it,  and  takes  the  necessary 
steps  to  do  so.  He  "  buyeth  the  field."  And  to  do  so,  he 
gives  up  everything  that  is  in,his  way,  or  that  is  contrary  to 
the  gospel.  This  is  what  is  meant  by  buying  the  field. 
When  the  love  of  money,  of  ease,  of  fashion,  of  carnal  pleas- 
ure and  worldly  honor  are  given  up  for  Christ's  sake,  and 
the  gospel's,  then,  in  the  spiritual  or  practical  sense  of  the 
parable,  we  sell  all  Ave  have  and  buy  the  field.  We  must 
give  up  our  pride  and  self-righteousness,  and  become  "  poor 
in  spirit."  "  Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit :  for  theirs  is  the 
kingdom  of  heaven." 

V.  We  notice  in  the  last  place  that  the  finding  and 
securing  the  treasure  of  grace  produces  joy . 

This  joy  begins  to  some  degree  when  the  interest  in  our 


KLDER   JAMES    QLlNTER.  363 

personal  salvation  begins.  Even  in  the  cup  of  penitential 
sorrow  tliere  are  drops  of  joy  mixed.  We  feel  glad  that  we 
see  our  danger  and  the  need  of  salvation.  And  we  are  made 
glad  to  know  that  Christ  can  and  will  save  us.  The  pente- 
costian  sinners  "gladly  received  the  word"  of  instruction, 
and  consequently  had  some  joy  before  they  were  pardoned, 
and  before  they  received  the  Holy  Spirit.  Joy  accompanies 
the  believer  through  all  his  life  and  its  changes,  and  when  he 
reaches  the  right  hand  of  God  he  will  have  fullness  of  joy, 
and  that  fore  verm  ore.     Psalm  16  :  11. 

My  unconverted  hearers,  if  you  have  found  the  treasure 
of  Christianity,  that  is,  if  you  perceive  its  importance, 
accept  it.  Buy  it  at  once,  though  you  have  to  sell  all  you 
have.  And  you,  my  Christian  brethren,  appreciate  the 
divine  treasure  you  have  secured.  Do  not  lose  it.  Seek  to 
increase  it.     Reioice  that  vou  have  found  it. 


XXXII. 
CHRISTIAI^  CONSISTENCY. 

"  He  that  saith  he  abideth  in  Him,  ought  himself  also  so 
to  walk,  even  as  He  walked."     I  John,  2 :  6. 

Our  subject  will  be,  Christian  Consistency.  And  to  pre- 
sent this  prominent  idea  of  the  text  in  the  most  satisfactory 
manner,  there  must  be  some  other  ideas  presented  with  it. 
We  therefore  propose  the  following  division  of  the  subject: 

I.  What  the  Christian  confession  implies. 

II.  The  necessity  for  this  confession. 

III.  What  consistency  requires  of  those  who  make  this 
confession. 

I.      We   are   to   notice   w?iat    the  Christian    Confession 


354  SERMONS    OF 

implies.  *''He  that  saith  he  abideth  in  him,"  is  equal  to,  he 
that  confesseth  him.  It  will  be  understood  that  the  words 
"him"  and  "he"  in  the  text  refer  to  Christ.  And  the  per- 
son referred  to  in  the  text  is  considered  as  saying,  he  ahideth 
in  Christ.  But  we  can  not  abide  in  Christ  except  we  first 
get  into  him.  So  the  person  referred  to  first  got  into 
Christ,  and  then  he  declared  that  he  abode  in  him. 
All  this  is  implied  in  an  intelligent  and  sincere  confession  of 
Christ.  All  who  have  made  such  a  confession  of  him  say 
they  abide  in  him.  This  is  saying  a  good  deal,  but  it  is  say- 
ing no  more  than  what  is  true.  Believers  who  have  made 
the  good  confession,  and  made  it  properl}^  are  in  Christ. 
And  this  they  declare  to  the  world.  They  do  not  only 
declare  it  in  word,  or  mainly  declare  it  in  that  way.  They 
declare  it  by  their  Christian  profession;  by  the  Christian 
name  which  they  bear ;  and  by  their  connection  with  the 
visible  church  of  Christ. — "  fie  that  saith  he  abideth  in  him." 
The  prolonged  life  of  the  Christian  believer  saith  he  abideth 
in  Christ.  All  you,  my  friends,  who  have  made  a  profession 
of  Christianity,  and  all  persons  of  every  Christian  commu- 
nity who  have  made  such  a  profession,  say  that  they  abide 
in  Christ.  And  this  is  saying  a  great  deal.  To  profess  to 
have  got  into  Christ,  and  to  abide  in  him,  with  all  that  such 
relation  to  him  implies,  is  to  profess  a  great  deal  —  to  make 
a  very  high  profession.  But  it  is  what  we  all  profess  who 
liave  made  the  Christian  profession.  And  whether  or  not 
we  all  realize  this,  we  profess  to  do  so,  for  it  is  implied  in 
the  Christian  profession.  And  if  we  do  not  realize  it,  our 
])rofession  is  of  no  practical  influence  or  of  no  saving  power. 
Oh,  let  us  all  understand  and  remember  what  is  implied  in 
our  Christian  profession,  and  what  we  are  continually  declar- 
ing to  the  world,  namely,  that  we  abide  hi  Chi'ist.  The  apos- 
tle  fully  realized  the  responsibilit}^  of  the  Christian  profes- 
sion, and  he  would  have  all  Christians  to  realize  it,  and  to 


ELDER   JAMES   QUINTER.  355 

realize  that  that  profession  requires  us  to  walk  as  Christ 
walked.  "  He  that  saith  he  abideth  in  him  ought  himself 
also  so  to  walk  even  as  he  walked." 

That  those  who  embraced  the  faith  or  religion  of  Christ 
made  a  public  confession  of  him,  seems  evident  from  a  num- 
ber of  passages  of  Scripture.  Paul  says  to  Timothy,  "  Fight 
the  good  fight  of  faith,  lay  hold  on  eternal  life,  whereunio 
thou  art  also  called  and  hast  professed  a  good  profession 
before  many  witnesses."  1  Tim.  6  :  12.  From  the  fact  that 
this  confession  or  profession  is  connected  with  his  call  to 
eternal  life,  would  seem  to  indicate  that  it  w^as  made  when 
he  entered  upon  a  Christianlife.  And  while  Timothy  made 
this  good  confession,  it  seems  to  have  been  a  common  thing 
among  Christians,  from  the  following  language  of  Paul :  "  If 
thou  shalt  confess  with  thy  mouth  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  shalt 
believe  in  thy  heart  that  God  hath  raised  him  from  the 
dead,  thou  shalt  be  saved.  For  with  the  heart  man  believeth 
unto  righteousness;  and  with  the  mouth  confession  is 
made  unto  salvation.  For  the  Scripture  saith,  whoso- 
ever believeth  on  him  shall  not  be  ashamed."  Rom.  10 : 
9-11.  In  harmony  with  the  foregoing  passages  of  Scripture 
is  the  confession  of  the  Ethiopian  eunuch,  for  he  made  the 
good  confession.  Having  been  taught  baptism  by  Phillip,  as 
he  evidently  had,  or  he  would  have  known  nothing  about  it, 
and  being  willing  to  do  anything  that  was  necessary  to 
obtain  the  object  he  was  in  pursuit  of,  namely,  salvation,  the 
first  opportunity  that  presented  itself  to  him  for  receiving 
baptism  he  was  anxious  to  embrace.  "And  as  they  went  on 
their  way,  they  came  to  a  certain  water ;  and  the  eunuch 
said,  see,  here  is  water,  what  doth  hinder  me  to  be  baptised  ? 
And  Phillip  said,  if  thou  believest  with  all  thine  heart,  thou 
mayest.  And  he  answered  and  said,  I  believe  that  Jesus 
Christ  is  the  Son  of  God."  Acts  8  :  36,  37.  Here  was  the 
confession  made. 


356  SERMONS   OP 

Then  a  gospel  confession  of  Christ  embraces  a  knowledge 
of  him  and  an  acceptance  of  him  as  our  Saviour,  that  we  may 
live  a  new  and  holy  life  by  his  grace,  and  after  his  example. 
And  this  is  manifested  in  the  ordinance  of  baptism,  as  b}'' 
this  we  own  and  put  on  Christ,  and  pledge  ourselves  to  a 
life  of  faithfulness  to  him.  And  to  abide  in  Christ  is  to  con- 
tinue in  the  confession  we  have  made  in  baptism,  and  after 
our  baptism  observe  the  precepts  and  commandments  of  our 
Lord,  as  he  gave  them  to  his  disciples  who  were  to  complete 
the  organization  of  the  Church.  Christians  do  not  only  say 
by  their  confession  of  Christ  that  they  have  entered  into 
him,  or  commenced  a  new  life,  a  life  of  faith,  but  they  say 
also  that  they  continue  in  him,  or,  in  the  language  of  the 
text,  they  say  they  abide  in  him.  In  harmony  with  this 
view  of  the  Christian  profession  or  confession,  the  apostle 
Paul  thus  exhorts  Christians  :  "  Seeing  then  that  we  have  a 
great  high  priest,  that  is  passed  into  the  heavens,  Jesus  the 
Son  of  God,  let  us  hold  fast  our  profession.  For  we  have 
not  a  high  priest  which  can  not  be  touched  with  the  feeling 
of  our  infirmities ;  but  was  in  all  points  tempted  like  as  we 
are  yet  without  sin.  Let  us  therefore  come  boldly  unto  the 
throne  of  grace,  that  we  may  obtain  mercy,  and  find  grace 
to  help  in  time  of  need."  Heb.  4:  14,  16.  In  these  words 
the  apostle  exhorts  us  to  hold  fast  our  profession.  And  this 
implies  a  faithful  observance  of  the  truths,  doctrines  and 
ordinance  of  the  gospel.  And  as  this  can  only  be  done  by 
the  ofrace  of  God,  w^e  are  in  tlie  above  exhortation  admon- 
ished  to  come  boldly  to  a  throne  of  grace  that  we  may  find 
grace  to  help  in  time  of  need. 

A  genuine  confession  of  Christ,  then,  implies  a  genuine  con- 
version to  Christianity  by  being  brought  into  fellowship  with 
Christ  the  author  of  Christianity,  and  by  virtue  of  that  fellow- 
ship divine  life  is  communicated  to  all  that  make  that  con- 
fession intelligently  and  sincerely.     To  abide  in  Christ,  then, 


ELDEK   JAMES    QUINTER.  357 

and  to  make  the  good  confession  is  to  partake  of  his  right- 
eousness and  to  be  like  him. 

II.  In  the  next  jDlace  we  shall  notice  The  necessity  for 
Confessing  Christ.  A  failure  to  confess  Christ  will  be  attended 
with  a  loss  of  all  that  is  implied  in  such  a  confession,  and  we 
have  seen  that  much  is  implied  in  it.  Our  Lord  said,  "Who- 
soever, therefore,  shall  confess  me  before  men,  him  will  J 
confess  also  before  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven."  Matt. 
10:  32,  33.  To  be  denied  by  Christ  when  his  relation  to  us 
as  our  judge  is  manifested  to  all,  and  when  "the  doom  of 
eternity  hangs  on  his  word,"  will  be  an  event  at  the  thought 
of  which  we  should  tremble.  To  be  rejected  by  him  when 
there  is  no  other  source  to  go  to  for  help  and  comfort  will  be 
a  condition  of  wretchedness  and  hopelessness  that  we  can  not 
be  too  anxious,  or  do  too  much,  or  sacrifice  too  much,  to 
avoid.  To  be  condemned  when  there  remains  no  further 
means  for  justification,  and  to  awake  up  to  a  sense  of  our 
guilt  when  there  is  no  hope  of  pardon,  will  be  such  a  state 
of  sorrow  that  it  can  only  be  realized  when  it  is  experienced. 

The  confession  and  denying  of  Christ,  standing  as  they 
do  in  connection  in  the  words  of  our  Lord  that  we  have 
quoted,  and  he  having  declared  on  another  occasion,  "  He 
that  is  not  with  me  is  against  me,  and  he  that  gathereth  not 
with  me  scattereth  abroad,"  Matt.  12 :  30,  we  must  come  to 
the  conclusion  that  all  who  do  not  confess  Christ  will  be 
considered  as  denying  him.  Here  is  the  absolute  necessity 
of  confessing  Christ,  if  we  would  avoid  the  doom  of  his 
enemies,  and  enjoy  the  favor  of  his  friends.  While  his 
rejection  of  us  will  be  our  ruin,  his  confession  of  us  that  we 
are  his  friends  and  disciples  will  be  the  highest  honor,  and 
the  passport  to  everlasting  bliss. 

There  being  so  much  involved  in  our  confessing  Christ, 
we  should  confess  him  and  thus  make  the  good  confession 
that  leads  to  a  good  life,  a  peaceful  death,  and  a  glorious 


358  SERMONS   OF 

immortality  beyond.  On  the  one  hand,  the  advantages  of  a 
Christian  life  can  not  be  overrated ;  and  on  the  other,  the 
terrible  consequences  of  neglecting  such  a  life  can  not  be 
justly  estimated  until  they  are  epxerienced. 

In  regard  to  the  Christian  profession,  that  we  may 
further  understand  the  nature  of  it,  and  the  importance  of 
it,  we  have  the  following: '"Beloved,  believe  not  every 
spirit,  but  try  the  spirits,  whether  they  are  of  God ;  because 
many  false  prophets  are  gone  out  into  the  world.  Hereby 
know  ye  the  spirit  of  God ;  every  spirit  that  confesseth  that 
Jesus  Christ  is  come  in  the  flesh  is  of  God ;  and  every  spirit 
that  confesseth  not  that  Jesus  Christ  is  come  in  the  flesh  is 
not  of  God ;  and  this  is  that  spirit  of  anti-Christ,  whereof  ye 
have  heard  that  it  should  come ;  and  even  now  already  is  it 
in  the  world."  1  John  4:  1-3.  Here  the  confession  that  is 
alluded  to  is  the  public,  sincere,  experimental  and  practical 
confession  we  have  already  explained.  The  spirit  that 
prompts  and  leads  to  such  a  confession  shows  that  it  is  of 
God,  and  that  they  who  possess  such  a  spirit  are  of  God. 

III.  We  notice  the  last  division  of  our  subject  which  is: 
What  Consistency  requires  of  those  who  make  the  Christian 
confession.  "He  that  saith  he  abideth  in  him  ought  himself 
also  so  to  walk  even  as  he  walked."  There  are  great  aiid 
solemn  obligations  assumed  by  all  who  confess  Christ,  or 
who  profess  to  abide  in  him.  Our  Lord  asks  the  suggestive 
question:  "Do  men  gather  grapes  of  thorns,  or  figs  of 
thistles?"  Matt.  7  :  16.  And  the  question  is  easily 
answered.  And  all  who  make  the  Christian  confession,  and 
say  that  they  abide  in  Christ,  should  "  walk  even  as  he 
walked."  He  is  the  vine,  and  his  disciples,  or  those  who 
confess  him,  are  the  branches,  John  15  :  5.  Then  as  the 
branches  are  of  the  same  nature  as  the  vine,  of  whatever 
character  the  vine  is,  of  that  character  will  the  branches  be, 
and  as  a  necessary  consequence  the  fruit  will  be  of  the  same 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTER.  359 

kind  as  is  tiie  vine.  And  to  profess  to  abide  in  Christ  as 
Christians  do,  and  then  to  walk  as  the  Gentiles  walk,  or  as  the 
people  of  the  world  walk — for  Gentiles  here  mean  the  world 
in  distinction  from  Christians — is  to  be  guilty  of  the  grossest 
inconsistency.  It  is  like  the  fig  tree  bearing  thistles,  or  the 
grape-vine,  thorns.  It  is  an  anomaly,  or  a  deviation  from 
the  common  course  of  things.  "  He  that  saith  he  abideth 
in  him,  ought  himself  also  so  to  walk,  even  as  he  walked." 
He  ought,  this  shows  the  obligation  he  is  under  to  do  so. 
And  while  he  is,  from  the  confession  he  has  mftde,  under 
obligations  to  live  a  life  like  Christ  lived,  propriety  and  con- 
sistency should  impel  him  to  the  same  course  of  holy  living. 
A  man  m  Christ,  as  every  Christian  professes  to  be,  is  one  of 
Christ's  holy  brethren,  having  holy  fellowship  with  Christ, — 
and  having  the  spirit  of  Christ,  and  the  same  mind  in  him 
that  was  in  Christ,  Phil.  2  :  5,  and  being  thus  closely  identi- 
fied with  Christ,  his  character  will  be  similar  to  the  character 
of  Christ,  and  it  will  then  follow  that  his  walk  or  conduct 
will  be  like  the  walk  and  conduct  of  Christ.  Walk  in  the 
text  means  spiritual  conduct,  or  a  spiritual  course  of  life 
resembling  the  conduct  of  Christ. 

He  that  saith  he  is  in  Christ,  or  confesses  to  be  in  Christ, 
should  have  the  Lord  before  him  as  his  example,  and  make 
it  the  one  great  object  of  his  life  to  imitate  him.  He  is  to 
walk  with  Christ.  And  if  he  walks  with  him,  and  lives  with 
him,  and  on  him,  and  Christ  lives  in  him,  then  will  he  walk 
as  Christ  walked,  and  be  a  witness  to  the  divine  auihority 
and  power  of  Christianity,  and  prove  that  he  is  of  God,  and 
that  he  has  the  Spirit  of  God. 

In  imitating  Christ  in  his  walk  or  conduct,  we  should 
look  at  his  conduct,  1,  Toward  his  heavenly  Father.  This 
was  complete  in  every  particular,  and  was  marked  by  the 
most  sincere,  constant  and  loving  obedience.  In  a  compari- 
son that   Paul   made   between  Moses  and  Christ,  he  says, 


3G0  SERMONS   OF 

"Moses  veril}'-  was  faithful  in  alt  his  nouse  as  a  servant,  for 
a  testimony  of  those  things  which  were  to  be  spoken  after ; 
but  Christ  as  a  Son  over  his  own  house ;  whose  house  are 
we,  if  we  hold  fast  the  confidence  and  the  rejoicing  of  the 
hope,  firm  unto  the  end."  Heb.  3 :  5.  He  was  faithful  as  a 
Son.  2.  His  walk  toward  his  brethren  was  marked  with  tlie 
same  faithfulness.  What  tenderness,  forbearance,  patience, 
unselfishness,  self-denial,  humility,  and  love  characterized 
all  his  intercourse  with  them!  "Having  loved  his  own 
which  were  in  the  world,  he  loved  them  unto  the  end," 
John  13  :  1.  How  expressive  is  this  language  in  regard  to 
our  Lord's  love  to  his  disciples !  3.  His  walk  or  conduct  to 
the  world,  and  to  his  enemies,  was  marked  by  great  care 
and  circumspection.  He  was  very  careful  to  give  no  just 
cause  of  offense  to  any.  It  was  a  man  of  the  world  who 
said  when  our  Lord  was  on  trial  before  him,  and  in  reference 
to  the  innocency  of  our  Lord,  "  I  find  in  him  no  fault  at  all." 
John  18 :  38.  Beloved  Christian  friends,  we  have  confessed 
Christ,  and  profess  to  abide  in  him.  Then  consistency 
requires  that  we  should  walk  as  he  walked. 

We  conclude  our  subject  with  three  practical  remarks. 
1.  We  are  not  to  be  a  rule  of  life  to  ourselves.  We  are  to 
walk  as  Christ  walked.  His  principles  and  example  are  to 
constitute  the  rule  by  which  we  are  f  o  be  governed.  2.  We 
call  your  attention  to  the  strictness  of  the  requirements  of 
Christianity.  What  a  holy  system  it  is,  as  it  requires  its 
adherents  to  imitate  the  holy  Son  of  God !  3.  The  Christ- 
ian life  is  one  of  great  honor,  dignity,  usefulness  and  excel- 
lency. It  is  a  life  in  holy  fellowship  with,  and  in  imitation 
of,  the  life  of  the  holy  One  of  God.  And  let  this  thought 
be  a  sufficient  encouragement  to  prompt  us  to  do  what- 
ever is  to  be  done,  to  attain  unto  the  Christian  life,  a  life 
in  imitation  of  that  beautiful  one  lived  by  our  blessed  Saviour. 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTER.  361 

XXXIIl. 
THE  HIGH  ENJOYMENT  OF  THE  GOOD. 

"But  unto  you  that  fear  my  name  shall  the  Sun  of  right- 
eousness arise  with  healing  in  his  wings ;  and  ye  shall  go 
forth,  and  grow  up  as  calves  of  the  stall.  And  ye  shall  tread 
down  the  wicked  ;  for  they  shall  be  ashes  under  the  soles  of 
your  feet  in  the  day  that  I  shall  do  this,  saith  the  Lord  of 
hosts." 

The  prophet,  in  closing  his  prophecies,  presents  in  strong 
and  plain,  though  in  figurative,  language,  the  condition  of 
sinners  and  saints.  After  declaring  the  terrible  end  of  the 
wicked,  he  sets  forth  the  blessed  state  of  the  good.  And 
our  subject  will  be,  The  high  enjoyment  of  the  good.  That 
our  blessed  Redeemer  is  referred  to  by  the  "  Sun  of  right- 
eousness," there  can  be  no  doubt.  He  is  not  only  presented 
to  us  as  the  "  Son  of  God,"  and  the  "  Son  of  man,"  but  he 
is  also  presented  to  us  as  the  "  Sun  of  righteousness."  Of 
all  the  natural  objects  that  are  used  in  the  Scriptures  to 
illustrate  the  glory,  power,  greatness  and  importance  of  the 
Saviour  to  our  world,  perhaps  there  is  none  more  suitable  to 
the  purpose,  or  more  expressive  of  his  glorious  character, 
than  the  sun.  And  though  the  worshiping  of  all  creatures 
is  idolatry,  and  we  can  not  but  look  upon  all  such  worship 
with  disgust  and  surprise,  we  can  not  well  help  feeling  less 
surprise  to  see  the  sun  worshiped,  than  an  onion,  or  some 
similar  object  in  creation. 

The  sun  is  a  great  body,  and  the  Saviour  is  a  great  Saviour. 
The  diameter  of  the  sun  is  estimated  to  be  900,000  miles, 
and  it  hasjnatter  enough  in  it  to  make  1,000,000  globes  the 
size  of  the  earth.  But  who  can  estimate  the  greatness  of 
Christ,  and  where  can  language  be  found  to  express  it  ?  He 
is  the  brightness  of  the  Father's  glory,  and  the  express 
image  of  his  person,  and  upholds  all  things  by  the  word  of 
his  power,     Heb.  1 :  3.     He  is  the  head  of  all  principality 


o62  SERMONS   OF 

and  power.  Col.  2  :  10.  John  thus  describes  him,  as  he 
had  seen  him  in  one  of  his  visions :  He  was  "  clothed  with  a 
a  garment  down  to  the  foot,  and  girt  about  the  paps  with  a 
golden  girdle.  His  head  and  hairs  were  white  like  wool,  as 
white  as  snow ;  and  his  eyes  were  as  a  flame  of  fire ;  and 
his  feet  like  unto  fine  brass,  as  they  burned  in  a  furnace ; 
and  his  voice  as  the  sound  of  many  waters."  Kev.  1 :  14,  15. 
He  is  Lord  of  lords,  and  King  of  kings.  Kev.  17  :  14  And 
in  consideration  of  his  greatness,  the  shining  ranks  of  heav- 
enW  intelligences  bow  to  him  and  pay  their  homage  to  him. 
"  And  I  beheld,  and  heard  the  voice  of  many  angels  round 
about  the  throne  and  the  beasts  and  the  elders :  and  the 
number  of  them  was  ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand,  and 
thousands  of  thousands ;  saying  with  a  loud  voice,  worthy  is 
the  Lamb  that  was  slain  to  receive  power,  and  riches,  and 
wisdom,  and  strength,  and  honor  and  glory,  and  blessing.'' 
Kev.  5:  11,  12.  Such  are  the  Scriptural  views  of  the  great- 
ness, the  glory  and  the  honor  of  the  Saviour.  And  justly 
may  he  be  compared  to  the  sun.  All  the  sun  is  to  the  natural 
world,  Christ  is  to  the  moral  orspiritual  world. 

In  presenting  the  practical  truth  contained  in  the  text,  we 
shall  present  it  under  the  two  following  heads  : 

/.     A  common  Biblical  characteristic  of  the  good. 

II.     The  blessings  received  by  the  good  from  Christ. 

I.  A  common  Biblical  characteristic  of  the  good.  "  But 
unto  you  that  fear  my  name  shall  the  Sun  of  righteousness 
arise,"  etc.  Saints  are  here  spoken  to  as  fearing  the  name 
of  the  Lord,  And  this  is  a  very  common  characteristic  of 
them  in  the  Scriptures.  "The  whole  duty  of  man  "  is  com- 
prised in  fearing  God  and  keeping  his  commandments.  Eccl. 
12:  13.  This  fear  is  not  the  slavish  fear  that  makes  the 
skive  tremble  at  the  dread  of  his  master's  anger  and  punish- 
ment. Neither  is  it  the  fear  that  guilt  produces.  This  was 
the  fear  that  Adam  felt  after  he  had  violated  the  law  of 


ELDER   JAMES   QUINTER.  363 

God  and  stained  his  pure  spirit  with  sin.  His  conscience 
felt  the  wrong  and  testified  to  his  guilt,  and  a  terrible  fear 
of  God  was  the  result ;  and  to  God's  question,  "  Where  art 
thou  ? "  he  responded,  "I  heard  thy  voice  in  the  garden,  and 
I  was  afraid."  Gen.  3  :  10.  The  fear  of  God,  that  is  the 
peculiar  characteristic  of  saints,  is  a  holy  disposition  of  the 
regenerated  spirit  of  the  believer,  that  prompts  him  so  to 
walk  that  in  all  things  he  may  please  God,  guarding  against 
offending  him,  either  by  doing  what  he  should  not  do  or  by 
failing  to  do  what  he  is  commanded  to  do.  Such  a  fear  of 
God  will  lead  to  the  most  cheerful  submission  to  his  will, 
and  to  the  most  profound  reverence  of  his  character. 

The  fear  that  Christians  have  of  God  is  a  filial  fear,  the 
fear  that  the  obedient  child  has  of  the  father.  It  is  a  fear 
mixed  with  love.  The  following  illustration  is  an  apt  one  of 
the  fear  that  the  children  of  God  have  to  their  heavenly 
Father.  A  little  boy  was  tempted  to  pluck  some  cherries 
from  a  tree  which  his  father  had  forbidden  him  to  touch. 
"  You  need  not  be  afraid,"  said  his  companion,  "  for  if  your 
father  should  find  out  that  you  have  taken  them,  he  is  too 
kind  to  hurt  you."  "  Ah  !  "  said  the  little  fellow,  "  that  is 
the  very  reason  why  I  would  not  touch  them,  for,  though 
my  father  would  not  hurt  me,  yet  I  should  hurt  him  by  my 
disobedience." 

//.     The  hlessing  derived  hy  the  good  from  Christ. 

1.  He  is  the  light  of  the  soul  of  the  believer.  In  the 
night  of  sin  that  the  believer  experienced  before  he  came  to 
Christ,  or  before  Christ  arose  to  dispel  the  spiritual  darkness 
from  his  heart,  he  ^\*as  in  great  darkness,  anj:l  was  ignorant 
of  himself,  and  of  God,  and  of  his  relation  and  duty  to  his 
God.  He  walked  in  darkness  and  was  in  the  way  of  destruc- 
tion, but  he  knew  it  not.  The  god  of  this  world  blinds  "the 
minds  of  them  that  believe  not."  2  Cor.,  4 :  4.  Conse- 
quently the  condition  of  such  is  a  dangerous  one,  as  they 


364  SERMONS   OF 

know  not  whither  they  go.  But  when  they  come  to  Christ 
and  put  themselves  into  the  proper  relation  to  him — into  the 
relation  of  a  seeking,  penitent  soul — then  he  will  arise;  and 
as  the  rising  sun  dispels  the  darkness  of  night,  so  will  the 
sun  of  righteousness  dispel  the  mists  and  clouds  of  dark- 
ness from  the  soul,  and  enable  it  to  see  itself  just  as  it  is,  a 
guilty  and  helpless  creature  before  God.  But  by  the  light 
that  shines  upon  it  from  Christ,  ''the  sun  of  righteousness," 
through  his  word,  a  way  of  salvation  will  also  be  dis- 
covered, and  he  will  hear  a  voice  saying,  "  This  is  the  way, 
walk  ye  in  it."  Isaiah  30:  21.  And  by  entering  the  straight 
gate,  and  by  walking  upon  the  narrow  path,  Matt.  Y:  14, 
permanent  and  safe  ground  will  be  reached,  and  pardon  and 
peace  found.  Christ,  "  the  sun  of  righteousness"  is  the  true 
light,  in  contradistinction  to  the  false  lights  that  are  in  the 
world,  and  that  men  too  often  follow  to  their  own  ruin.  To 
such  false  light  the  prophet  alludes  in  the  following  lan- 
guage :  "  Behold,  all  ye  that  kindle  a  fire,  that  compass  your- 
selves about  with  sparks:  walk  in  the  light  of  your  fire,  and 
in  the  sparks  that  ye  have  kindled.  This  shall  ye  have  of 
mine  hand  :  ye  shall  lie  down  in  sorrow."     Isaiah  50  :  11. 

2.  Christ  as  "the  sun  of  righteousness"  has  a  quickening 
power  by  which  he  quickens  the  dead  soul  into  life.  The 
similarity  between  the  effect  produced  by  the  natural  sun 
upon  the  earth,  and  Christ  upon  the  spiritual  nature  of  man, 
is  very  striking.  The  earth  for  a  part  of  the  year  sustains 
a  relation  to  the  sun  that  vegetation  apparently  dies.  Dur- 
ing winter  the  earth  seems  to  be  partially  dead.  The  frost 
in  some  degree  holds  vegetation  in  subjection.  But  when 
the  earth  arrives  at  a  certain  point  in  her  annual  course 
around  the  sun,  his  power  upon  tlie  earth  increases,  and  it 
breaks  the  power  of  cold  and  frost  which  have  held  in  sub- 
jection in  some  degree  the  earth,  life-giving  power  is 
imparted  to  the  earth,  and  under  that  power  vegetation 


ELDER  JAMES   QUINTER.  8G5 

Springs  forth  from  its  grave,  and  tlie  earth  is  clothed  with 
life,  and  that  life  is  manifested  on  every  hand.  The  seed 
that  has  been  buried  in  the  earth  germinates  and  grows,  and 
fruitfulness  is  the  result. 

And  so  does  Christ,  "the  sun  of  righteousness"  by  his 
quickening  and  life-giving  power,  exerted  through  his  word 
and  Spirit,  raise  from  their  spiritual  graves  the  souls  that 
have  been  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins,  when  they  come  to 
him,  and  put  themselves  into  such  a  relation  to  him  as  will 
enable  him  to  exert  his  power  in  giving  them  life.  Souls 
that  would  be  made  alive  by  Christ  must  come  to  him,  and 
believe  on  him.  They  must  be  planted  in  him,  or  grafted 
into  him.  He  is  the  vine,  and  all  that  will  bear  fruit  unto 
eternal  life  must  be  grafted  into  him.  Pie  then  becomes 
their  life.  He  also  matures  the  fruit  of  believers.  And  that 
fruit  is  the  fruit  of  righteousness. 

3.  But  the  Sun  of  righteousness  is  represented  as  hav- 
ing a  healing  influence  upon  his  people.  There  is  "healing 
in  his  wings."  The  moral  sickness  of  men  is  here  clearly 
recognized.  And  in  immediate  connection  with  the  truth 
that  men  are  spiritually  diseased,  stands  the  plainly  implied 
truth  that  Christ  is  the  great  physician.  And  in  his  redemp- 
tive work  wrought  in  believers,  he  does  not  only  save  them 
from  death,  but  he  also  saves  them  from  sickness,  and 
restores  them  to  perfect  spiritual  health.  How  effectual  and 
complete  is  his  work.  "Where  sin  abounded,  grace  did 
much  more  abound :  that  as  sin  hath  reigned  unto  death, 
even  so  might  grace  reign  through  righteousness  unto 
eternal  life  by  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord."  Rom.  5 :  20,  21. 
Dr.  Pocock  says  tlie  Jews  have  a  proverbial  saying,  "As 
the  sun  riseth,  infirmities  decrease."  As  the  sun  has  a 
healthy  and  invigorating  influence  upon  the  bodies  of  men, 
so  Christ  has  a  healing  influence  upon  the  feeble  and 
diseased  condition  of  men's  spiritual  nature.     Reference  may 


366  SERMONS   OF 

also  be  made  to  the  physical  cures  which  Christ  performed 
among  men  while  he  was  upon  earth.  He  is  the  Saviour  of 
the  body  and  of  the  soul — of  the  whole  man. 

4.  He  has  a  bindmg  power,  or  a  power  that  unites  and 
holds  all  the  good  together.  In  this  respect  he  has  a  power 
similar  to  that  of  the  sun.  The  sun  is  understood  to  be  the 
centre  of  the  solar  system,  and  by  virtue  of  the  laws  that 
govern  matter,  all  the  planets  that  revolve  around  the  sun 
are  held  to  their  places  by  the  great  law  of  attraction.  So 
Christ,  "the  Sun  of  righteousness  "  is  "  the  head  of  all  prin- 
cipality and  power."  Col.  2  :  10.  He  is  the  great  corner- 
stone that  binds  all  the  "lively"  stones  that  constitute 
the  great  spiritual  building  of  God  together.  And  he  is  the 
head  of  the  universal  family  of  the  redeemed  in  heaven  and 
on  earth.  The  apostle,  in  speaking  of  the  position  Christ 
has  been  raised  to  by  the  Father,  says,  "  he  raised  him  from 
the  dead,  and  set  him  at  his  own  right  hand  in  the  heavenly 
places,  far  above  all  principality,  and  power,  and  might,  and 
dominion,  and  every  name  that  is  named,  not  only  in  this 
world,  but  also  in  that  which  is  to  come;  and  hath  put  all 
things  under  his  feet,  and  gave  him  to  be  the  head  over  all 
things  to  the  church,  which  is  his  body,  the  fullness  of  him 
that  iilleth  all  in  all."  Eph.  1 :  20-23.  Such  is  the  great 
central  position  that  Christ,  "the  Sun  of  righteousness," 
holds  in  the  spiritual  universe  of  God.  He  is  the  fountain 
of  light,  and  of  life,  and  of  power,  and  from  him  go  out  in 
streams  of  grace  ample  supplies  to  meet  all  the  wants  of 
God's  great  spiritual  family. 

5.  But  he  is  "  the  Sun  of  righteousness."  He  is 
not  only  a  sun  to  enlighten,  quicken,  heal,  and  attract, 
but  righteousness  characterizes  all  his  offices,  all  liis 
works,  and  his  purposes.  While  he  is  represented  in 
our  text  as  "  the  Sun  of  righteousness,"  he  is  also  repre-. 
sented  as  a  King  of  righteousness.     The  prophet  in  alluding 


ELDER  JAMES   QUlNTER.  367 

to  him  in  his  kingly  character,  and  to  the  kingdom  that  lie 
was  to  establish,  says,  "  Behold,  a  king  shall  reign  in  riglit- 
eousness,  and  princes  shall  rule  in  judgment."  Isa.  32  :  1. 
And  Paul  quotes  the  following  expressive  language  from 
the  psalms  and  applies  it  to  Christ:  ''  Thy  throne,  O  God,  is 
for  ever  and  ever ;  a  sceptre  of  righteousness  is  the  sceptre 
of  thy  kingdom.  Thou  hast  loved  righteousness  and  hated 
iniquity ;  therefore  God,  even  thy  God,  hath  anointed  thee 
with  the  oil  of  gladness  above  thy  fellows."  Heb.  1  :  8,  9. 
And,  again,  it  is  said  of  him,  "  righteousness  shall  be 
the  girdle  of  his  loins,  and  faithfulness  the  girdle  of  his 
reins."  Isa.  11 :  5.  Righteousness  was  a  prominent  feature 
in  our  Redeemer's  character,  and  it  should  be  prominent 
and  controlling  in  the  character  of  all  his  people.  And  so 
in  our  text  he  is  very  properly  declared  to  be  "  the  Sun  of 
righteousness."  And  all  whom  he  saves,  and  over  whom  he 
reigns,  are  distinguished  for  righteousness  as  is  their  head 
and  pattern.  Eternal  right  is  enthroned  upon  their  hearts, 
and  it  exerts  its  power  over  their  lives.  And  they  are  there- 
fore right  in  all  their  feelings,  and  in  all  their  relations  in 
life.  All  their  passions  and  words  and  works  are  right. 
They  love  God  supremely,  and  their  neighbor  as  them- 
selves, according  to  the  divine  law. 

6.  Under  the  lig'ht  and  influences  of  "the  Sun  of  right- 
eousness"  the  good,  or  those  that  fear  God,  are  represented 
as  going  forth,  and  as  growing  up  as  calves  of  the  stall. 
This  language  suggests  several  beautiful  ideas.  Those  upon 
whom  the  Sun  of  righteousness  arises,  and  who  enjoy  all  the 
blessed  influences  of  his  divine  power,  increase  in  knowledge, 
and  grace,  and  spiritual  strength,  and  go  forth  victoriously, 
and  successfully  on  their  great  mission  of  life,  pressing 
"toward  the  mark  for  the  prize  of  the  high  calling  of  God 
in  Christ  Jesus."  Phil.  3  :  14.  They  go  "  from  faith  to 
faith,"  Rom.  1  :  17,  thus  "leaving  the  principles  of  the  doc- 


868  .  SERMONS   OF 

trine  of  Christ,  they  go  unto  perfection,"  and  grow  up  as 
calves  of  the  stall,  strong  to  labor  and  suffer  in  the  cause  of 
the  Lord.  They  will  be  strong  to  resist  the  temptations  of 
the  wicked,  as  it  is  said,  "ye  shall  tread  down  the  wicked; 
for  they  shall  be  ashes  under  the  soles  ot  your  feet  in  the 
day  that  I  shall  do  this,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts."  The 
good  shall  be  "more  than  conquerors  through  him  that  loved 
us."     Rom.  8  :  37. 

7.  The  last  general  idea  suggested  by  the  text  that  we 
shall  notice  is  the  idea  of  animation,  cheerfulness,  and  joy. 
Joy  and  happiness  are  associated  with  light  and  sorrow  ami 
misery  with  darkness,  in  the  Scriptures.  And  this  agrees 
with  our  experience.  In  regard  to  the  common  enjoyments 
of  life,  we  know  that  a  bright  sunny  day  is  more  enjoyable 
and  more  cheering  than  a  dark  and  gloomy  day.  Hence 
light  in  the  Scriptures  is  the  emblem  of  joy  and  happiness. 
And  so  it  is  said,  "Light  is  sown  for  the  righteous,  and 
gladness  for  the  upright  in  heart."  Ps.  97:11.  Here 
gladness  and  light  are  associated  together.  And  in  the  fol- 
lowing passage  there  is  a  beautiful  cluster  of  ideas  associated 
with  light.  "  Then  shall  thy  light  break  forth  as  the  morn- 
ing, and  thine  health  shall  spring  forth  speedily  ;  and  thy 
righteousness  shall  go  before  thee;  the  glory  of  the  Lord 
shall  be  thy  reward.  Then  shalt  thou  call,  and  the  Lord 
shall  answer;  thou  shalt  cry,  and  he  shall  say,  here  I  am.  If 
thou  shalt  take  away  from  the  midst  of  thee  the  yoke,  the 
putting  forth  of  the  finger,  and  speaking  vanity;  and  if  thou 
draw  out  thy  soul  to  the  hungry,  and  satisfy  the  afflicted 
soul;  then  shall  thy  light  rise  in  obscurity,  and  thy  darkness 
be  as  noonday."  Isa.  58 :  8-10.  Here  are  rich  spiritual  truths. 
Even  the  darkness  of  the  Christian  shall  be  as  the  noonday. 
That  is,  in  his  darkest  hours  there  is  joy.  What  then  must 
be  his  hours  of  light? 

In  conclusion  we  remark,  1.   What  an  unspeakable  bless- 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTER.  369 

ing  is  Christ  to  those  who  enjoy  him  in  all  his  saving  power! 
2.  Christian  friends,  do  you  enjoy  this  light?  Has  Christ 
risen  with  all  his  brightness  upon  your  souls  ?  If  he  has  not, 
you  are  not  enjoying  what  it  is  your  privilege  to  enjoy.  3. 
And  you,  beloved  friends,  who  are  yet  in  darkness,  will  you 
not  come  to  Christ,  that  he  may  be  to  you  "  the  Sun  of 
righteousness,"  turning  your  night  into  day,  and  making 
you  fruitful  in  every  good  work  ?  May  we  all  live  more 
constantly  in  the  heavenly  light  of  "the  Sun  of  righteous- 
ness," and  then  will  our  light  shine  to  the  glory  of  God,  and 
to  the  honor  of  our  Christianity. 


XXXIY. 

DIVINE  POWER  CORRECTING  HUMAN 
MISTAKES. 

"  And  Elisha  came  again  to  Gilgal ;  and  there  was  a 
dearth  in  the  land  :  and  the  sons  of  the  prophets  were  sitting 
before  him:  and  he  said  unto  his  servant,  Set  on  the  great 
pot,  and  seethe  the  pottage  for  the  sons  of  the  prophets.  And 
one  went  out  into  the  lields  to  gather  herbs,  and  found  a 
wild  vine,  and  gathered  thereof  wild  gourds  his  lap  full,  and 
came  and  shred  them  into  the  pot  of  pottage;  for  they  knew 
them  not.  So  they  poured  out  for  the  men  to  eat.  And  it 
came  to  pass  as  they  were  eating  of  the  pottage,  that  they 
cried  out,  and  said,  O  thou  man  of  God,  there  is  death  in  the 
pot.  And  they  could  not  eat  of  the  pot.  But  he  said,  Then 
bring  meal,  and  he  cast  it  into  the  pot:  and  he  said,  Pour 
out  for  the  people,  that  they  may  eat.  And  there  was  no 
harm  in  the  pot."     2  Kings  4:  38-41. 

We  have  here  one  of  the  miracles  performed  by  Elisha. 
Elisha  was  the  successor  of  Elijah.  Elijah,  before  his 
departure,  called  Elisha,  and  gave  him  to  understand  that 
he  was  to   be  his  successor,  and  to  continue  the  work  of 


870  SERMONS   OF 

the  Lord.  Before  Elijah's  ascension,  Elisha  kept  close  to 
him,  and  when  the  eventful  period  came  for  Elijah 
to  ascend  in  a  chariot  of  fire,  Elisha  saw  him  go  up, 
and  exclaimed  "  My  father,  my  father,  the  chariot 
of  Israel,  and  the  horsemen  thereof."  And  he  saw  him 
no  more :  and  he  took  hold  of  his  own  clothes,  and  rent 
them  in  two  pieces.  He  took  up  also  the  mantle  of  Elijah 
that  fell  from  him,  and  went  back  and  stood  by  the  bank 
of  Jordan:  and  he  took  the  mantle  of  Elijah  that  fell 
from  him,  and  smote  the  waters,  and  said.  Where  is  the 
Lord  God  of  Elijah?  And  when  he  also  had  smitten  the 
waters,  they  parted  hither  and  thither:  and  Elisha  went 
over.  And  when  the  sons  of  the  prophets  which  were  to 
view  at  Jericho  saw  hira  they  said,  the  spirit  of  Elijah  doth 
rest  on  Elisha.  And  they  came  to  meet  him,  and  bowed 
themselves  to  the  ground  before  him."  The  question, 
"Where  is  the  Lord  God  of  Elijah  ? "  is  a  suggestive 
question.  And  the  question  was  virtually  answered  in  a 
manner  somewhat  like  the  following :  "  I  am  with  my 
people,  and  with  my  servants,  and  I  will  be  with  you,  if  you 
honor  the  mantle  of  your  father,  and  are  as  devoted 
to  me  as  he  was.  I  will  be  all  to  you  that  I  was  to  him." 
Elisha  took  the  mantle  of  Elijah,  and  smote  the  waters  of 
the  Jordan,  and  the  stream  was  divided,  and  he  passed  over 
it.  He  thus  had  the  assurance  that  God  was  with  him. 
And  this  assurance  he  felt,  or  had  evidence  of,  in  every 
miracle  he  performed.  He  had  it  at  Gilgal,  when  he  per- 
formed the  miracle  recorded  in  our  text. 

The  sons  of  the  prophets  were  a  class  of  pious  young 
men  that  were  preparing  themselves  to  fill  the  places  of 
their  seniors  when  their  labors  would  close  and  their  places 
be  left  vacant.  They  looked  up  to  their  spiritual  fathers  for 
instruction,  and  those  fathers  instructed  them  in  the  law 
and  took  much  pains,  no  doubt,  to  prepare  them  for  useful- 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTER.  3Y1 

ness.  There  was  a  strong  reciprocal  feeling  of  attachment 
between  the  old  and  young  prophets  of  the  Lord.  Elisha 
met  a  number  of  these  young  prophets  at  Gilgal  upon  his 
arrival  there.  They  were  gathered  together  with  Elisha. 
And  as  there  was  a  dearth  in  the  land,  it  is  altogether  prob- 
able that  their  supply  of  food  was  low,  and  that  they  were 
prevented  from  doing  what  their  love  and  respect  for  Elisha 
prompted  them  to  do,  namely,  prepare  a  good  meal  for  him. 
And  as  they  had  not,  apparently,  the  means  of  doing  what 
they  would  like  to  have  done,  Elisha  helped  them.  He  sent 
a  servant  out  into  the  field  to  gather  some  vegetables.  And 
he  committed  a  sad  mistake,  and  instead  of  gathering  a 
wholesome  and  palatable  kind  of  cucumber  or  gourd  that 
grew  in  that  country,  he  gatherecl  a  kind  that  was 
nauseous  and  poisonous,  which  also  grew  there.  And 
when  the  pottage  was  tasted,  they  discovered  the 
mistake  that  had  been  committed,  and  they  supposed 
they  were  poisoned,  and  exclaimed,  "O  thou  man  of  God, 
there  is  death  in  the  pot."  The  man  of  God,  who  was 
Elisha,  as  we  may  readily  suppose,  sympathized  deeply  with 
them  in  their  trouble,  and  the  more  so,  perhaps,  because  his 
servant  had  brought  the  poisonous  vegetables ;  he  imme- 
diately interposed  his  power  and  counteracted  the  influence 
of  the  poisonous  herb,  restored  the  pottage  to  a  wholesome 
condition,  and  thus  prepared  the  way  for  a  very  enjoyable 
time  together. 

We  shall  present  some  practical  truths  suggested  by  the 
text,  under  the  following  heads: 

/.     The  mistakes  of  men. 

11.  The  interposition  of  God  to  counteract  those  mistakes 
a/nd  save  men  from  their  efj-ects. 

I.  The  mistakes  of  men.  "What  is  a  mistake?  A  mis- 
take, says  Webster,  is  "  afaidt  in  opinion.,  judgment  or  con- 
duct; an  error.''"'     He  also  says,  "  a  mistake  is  an  interchange 


372  SERMONS   OF 

or  taking  of  one  thing  for  another,  through  haste,  inadvert- 
ence or  ignorance."  All  sins  are  mistakes  but  all  mistakes 
are  not  sins.  There  may  be  mistakes  that  do  not  necessarily 
lead  to  sin  or  moral  evil.  That  was  a  sad  mistake  that  the 
servant  of  Elisha  committed  when  he  gathered  the  poison- 
ous vegetables.  And  had  not  the  man  of  God  counteracted 
the  poisonous  effect  of  those  vegetables  the  loss  of  human 
life  might  have  been  great.  And  how  far  the  servant  would ^ 
have  been  responsible  had  death  followed  would  have 
depended  upon  circumstances.  There  was  ignorance,  and 
perhaps  carelessness,  in  what  he  did.  He  was  not  as  well 
acquainted  with  the  character  of  the  vegetables  that  he 
gathered  as  he  should  have  been.  We  all  ought  to  be  care- 
ful and  not  undertaTie  to  do  what  we  are  not  capable  of 
doing.  There  is  either  ignorance  or  carelessness,  or  both, 
connected  with  all  mistakes,  and  so  they  are  connected  with 
all  sin. 

The  history  of  the  human  race  is  made  up  largely  of  their 
mistakes.  "The  whole  world  lieth  in  wickedness."  And 
io-norance  and  carelessness,  and  in  many  cases  worse  ele- 
ments combined  with  these,  have  produced  this  wickedness. 
It  has  all  been  produced  by  mistakes  and  blunders.  How 
much  of  the  history  of  the  world  is  made  up  of  the  history 
of  war  and  bloodshed.  And  mistakes  have  produced  a  large 
amount  of  the  evil  that  war  has  inflicted  upon  our  race. 
The  common  histories  of  the  world  that  are  written  are 
made  up  so  much  of  war  that  the  propriety  of  putting  such 
books  into  the  hands  of  our  youth  has  led  a  late  author  to 
write  history  without  so  much  of  war  being  put  into  it. 

As  Eve  was  the  mother  of  our  race,  so  the  sad  mistake 
that  she  committed  was  the  parent  of  all  the  mistakes  and 
faults  that  have  afflicted  our  race  since  her  time.  That  act 
of  hers  that  we  call  the  first  sin  was  a  terrible  mistake. 
And  it  had  every  element  of  a  mistake  according  to  Wlu- 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTKR.  373 

ster's  description  of  a  mistake,  when  he  explains  it  to  be  "an 
interchange  or  taking  of  one  thing  for  another,  through 
haste,  inadvertence,  or  ignorance."  How  true  it  is  that  she 
took  "one  thing  for  another."  She  thought  she  was  taking 
that  which  would  impart  wisdom  and  pleasure  to  her.  It  is 
said  in  the  Bible  account  we  have  of  her  mistake  that  "  when 
the  woman  saw  that  the  tree  was  good  for  food,  and  that  it 
was  pleasant  to  the  eyes,  and  a  tree  to  be  desired  to  make  one 
wise,  she  took  of  the  fruit  thereof  and  did  eat,  and  gave  also 
unto  her  husband  with  her  and  he  did  eat."  Gen.  3 :  6.  She 
thought  she  was  taking  that  which  would  make  her  wise 
and  which  would  add  to  her  pleasure.  But,  alas !  she  was 
greatly  mistaken.  She  made  a  mistake  and  took  the  wrong 
fruit,  as  did  the  servant  of  Elisha  when  he  went  out  to  gather 
the  gourds.  And  there  was  death  in  eating  of  the  fruit  that 
Eve  partook  of  as  there  was  in  the  pottage  prepared  for  the 
sons  of  the  prophets  at  Gilgal.  The  effects  in  eating  the 
forbidden  fruit  were  not  probably  the  same  upon  Eve  as  the 
eating  of  the  poisoned  pottage  was  upon  the  sons  of  the 
prophets.  In  the  former  case  the  immediate  effects  were  of 
a  moral  character,  while  in  the  latter  case  the  immediate 
effects  were  of  a  physical  character. 

But  Eve  was  sadly  mistaken  in  the  effects  which  the  eat- 
ing of  the  forbidden  fruit  produced.  She  expected  pleasure 
but  found  pain.  She  thought  the  fruit  would  make  her  wise 
but  it  really  made  her  ignorant,  for  sin  is  ignorance,  or  it 
produces  ignorance.  Paul,  in  describing  the  condition  of 
sinners,  says,  "Having  the  understanding  darkened,  being 
alienated  from  the  life  of  God  through  the  ignorance  that  is 
in  them,  because  of  the  blindness  of  their  heart."  Ignorance 
and  not  wisdom  is  the  fruit  of  sin.  "  The  fear  of  the  Lord 
is  the  beginning  of  wisdom;  a  good  understanding  have  all 
they  that  do  his  commandments."  Ps.  Ill :  10.  We  would 
say  to  you,  young  people,  and  to  all  to  whom  we  are  speak- 


37i  SERMONS    OF 

ing,  that  whenever  you  expect  that  sin  will  add  to  your 
interest,  or  to  your  real  pleasure,  you  will  find  yourselves 
greatly  mistaken.  "  Do  men  gather  grapes  of  thorns,  or  figs 
of  thistles?"  Surely  not.  Neither  do  they  receive  anything 
fiood  from  sin. 

Both  nations  and  individuals  have  committed  sad  mis- 
takes. That  was  a  great  mietake  that  the  Egyptians  com- 
mitted when  they  put  themselves  in  opposition  to  God,  and 
attempted  to  continue  their  oppression  over  his  people. 
"  Who  is  the  Lord  ?  "  said  Pharaoh  reproachfully  and  insult- 
ingly, "  that  I  should  obey  his  voice  to  let  Israel  go  ?  I  know 
not  the  Lord,  neither  will  1  let  Israel  go."  Ex.  5  :  2.  And 
as  Pharaoh  would  not  hearken  to  the  Lord,  nor  regard  the 
wonderful  works  of  the  Lord  performed  to  show  him  his 
mistake,  the  Egyptians  were  drowned  in  the  Ked  Sea,  and 
their  dead  bodies  thrown  upon  its  shore.  The  Jews  com- 
mitted several  sad  mistakes  in  yielding  to  heathen  influences, 
and  in  turning  from  the  Lord,  and  by  giving  themselves  up 
to  idolatry,  Solomon  committed  a  great  mistake.  With  all 
his  knowledge  and  wisdom  he  stepped  aside  from  the  path 
of  rectitude  and  righteousness,  and  "did  evil  in  the  sight  of 
the  Lord,  and  went  not  fully  after  the  Lord,  as  did  David 
his  father."  1  Kings  11  :  6,  Peter  also  committed  a  mistake 
when  be  denied  the  Lord.  How  ungrateful  and  unthought- 
ful  he  was!  At  the  very  time  his  Lord  so  much  needed  his 
sympathy  and  his  presence  to  cheer  him  in  the  dark  hour  of 
his  trial  and  temptation,  Peter  forsook  him  and  denied  him. 
There  are  times,  Christian  brethren,  when  there  is  a  special 
necessity  for  our  testimony  and  influence  to  defend  and  pro- 
tect the  suffering  cause  of  truth.  And  we  ought  to  be  ready 
at  such  times  to  stand  up  for  Jesus.  We  are  sometimes 
thrown  into  worldly  company  when  our  Christian  influence 
is  especially  needed  to  restrain  the  frivolity,  the  gaity,  and 
the  unbecoming  levity  of  the  vain  and  thoughtless,  and  we 


ELDER   JAMES    tiUINTER.  376 

commit  a  serious  mistake  when  at  such  times,  instead  of 
throwing  our  influence  against  such  conduct,  we  help  to 
encourage  it. 

Oh,  how  common  are  the  faults  of  mistakes  both  with 
the  young  and  with  the  old!  The  former  thiough  thought- 
lessness, and  the  latter  for  the  want  of  the  "  fear  of  God 
before  their  eyes,"  are  both  alike  exposed  to  mistakes,  and 
mistakes  are  common  with  them,  though  many  of  those 
mistakes  are  faults,  and  if  not  corrected  must  lead  to  ruin. 
Young  men  commit  mistakes  when  they  indulge  in  the 
habit  of  drinking  intoxicating  drinks,  or  in  the  use  of  pro- 
fane language,  or  any  thing  of  an  evil  tendency,  for  such 
things  will  grow,  and  they  may  lead  to  ruin.  Young  men 
and  women,  act  with  wisdom  and  discretion,  and  thus  avoid 
mistakes  which  may  lead  to  ruinous  consequences.  And  let 
the  older,  who  are  less  excusable  than  they  because  they 
have  more  experience,  do  the  same. 

II.  The  intefposition  of  God  to  save  men  from  their  mis- 
takes and  their  consequences. 

The  sons  of  the  prophets  and  all  who  partook  of  the 
poisonous  pottage  at  Gilgal,  were  in  danger  of  death  from 
the  effects  of  the  poisonous  gourds.  But  God  in  mercy, 
through  his  servant  Elisha,  interfered,  and  saved  their  lives. 
And  so  he  has  done  in  regard  to  the  great  mistakes  of  men 
involving  moral  principles  and  moral  character,  and  thus 
exposing  them  to  "death  of  every  kind,"  for  death  is  in  the 
great  seething  pot  out  of  which  we  are  all  eating.  "By  one 
man  sin  entered  into  the  world,  and  death  by  sin:  and  so 
death  passed  upon  all  men,  for  that  all  have  sinned."  Rom. 
5  :  12.  Through  the  guilty  mistakes  that  men  have  made, 
they  are  not  only  exposed  to  death,  but  are  actually  "dead 
in  trespasses  and  sins."  Eph.  2:1.  The  moral  poison  has 
been  taken,  and  the  "  whole  head  is  sick,  and  the  whole 
heart  faint."     Isa.  1  :5.     "But  God,  who  is  rich  in  mercy, 


376  SERMONS   OF 

for  his  great  love  wherewith  he  loved  us,  even  when  we 
were  dead  in  sins,  hath  quickened  us  together  with  Christ." 
Eph.  2  :  4,  5.  As  the  prophet  put  the  meal  into  the  pot,  and 
destroyed  the  poisonous  effects  of  the  gourds,  so  Christ  gave 
his  life  a  ransom  for  men.  He  came  into  the  world  to 
save  sinners — to  save  men  from  the  guilt  and  misery 
of  their  mistakes  and  to  give  them  spiritual  light  and 
strength,  that  they  may  go  on  their  way  after  their  delivery 
from  death,  and  "sin  no  more."  There  are  two  things 
necessary  to  preserve  us  from  mistakes.  First,  we  need  wis- 
dom to  enable  us  to  know  what  evil  is.  And,  secondly,  we 
need  spiritual  strength  to  enable  us  to  resist  the  wrong,  when 
we  discover  it.  All  these  helps,  or  necessary  means  of 
grace  are  provided  for  us  in  Christ,  and  we  may  be  delivered 
from  sin  and  death,  and  kept  by  the  power  of  God. 

The  means  by  which  the  prophet  Elisha  saved  the  people 
from  death  are  deserving  of  our  notice.  It  was  simply  by 
throwing  meal  into  the  pot.  The  means  were  simple.  But 
it  should  be  observed  that  one  of  the  characteristics  of  the 
means  which  God  usually  selects  to  accomplish  his  purposes 
is  smallness  or  weakness  as  looked  at  by  men,  and  in  the 
light  of  their  own  power.  It  is  with  the  means  that  God 
uses,  as  it  is  with  the  agents.  Paul,  in  referring  to  the 
Gospel,  and  those  to  whom  it  is  committed  to  preach  it,  says, 
"  We  have  this  treasure  in  earthen  vessels,  that  the  excellency 
of  the  power  may  be  of  God,  and  not  of  us."  2  Cor.  4 :  7. 
So  it  is  with  the  means  chosen  ;  it  is  by  "  the  foolishness  of 
preaching,"  that  God  saves  believers.  Some  of  the  means 
of  grace  contained  in  the  Gospel,  because  they  are  small  and 
simple,  they  are  by  some  undervalued  and  set  aside.  Bap- 
tism, feet  washing,  and  other  commands  of  the  Gospel,  are 
so  regarded  by  some.  But  when  it  is  remembered  that  God 
usually  works  by  small  means,  nothing  can  justly  be  inferred 
from  them  on  account  of  their  smallness  unfavorable  to  their 
character  as  divine  institutions. 


ELDER    JAMES    QUINTEK.  377 

In  conclusion  we  notice,  that  the  means  used,  though 
small,  were  effectual.  The  meal  was  put  into  tlie  pot,  ".  and 
there  was  no  harm  in  the  pot."  If  the  life-giving  word  of 
God,  the  gospel  of  our  salvation,  is  taken  into  the  heart  in 
humble  faith,  and  carried  out  in  the  true  spirit  of  obedience, 
whatever  our  faults  or  mistakes  have  been,  and  however 
near  to  death  we  may  have  been  brought,  from  the  danger 
and  guilt  of  our  mistakes  we  shall  be  delivered,  and  an 
"inheritance  among  the  saints  of  light"  will  be  the  rich 
reward  bestowed  upon  us  by  our  heavenly  Master. 


XXXV. 

THE  STRENGTH  OF  CULTIVATED  CHRISTIAN 
FEELING. 

"  Abhor  that  which  is  evil :  cleave  to  that  which  is  good." 
Rom.  12 :  9. 

1.  There  are  strong  religious  instincts  in  man's  nature. 
Among  those  instincts  is  prayer.  Prayer  is  asking.  And 
asking  is  the  result  of  a  feeling  of  want.  The  infant  feels 
its  want,  and  asks  in  the  only  language  in  which  it  can 
make  its  want  known,  and  that  language  consists  in  cries. 
And  prayer  is  more  or  less  common  to  persons  of  all  ages. 
Let  man  be  placed  under  circumstances  of  danger,  which 
threaten  his  life,  and  how  natural  it  is  for  him,  promptetl 
by  his  religious  instincts,  to  lift  his  eyes  to  heaven  and  call 
upon  God. 

2.  Worship  is  a  religious  instinct.  And  lience  the  many 
forms  and  objects  of  worship  that  we  find  in  the  different 
nations  of  men.  It  has  been  beautifully  said,  "  Why  should 
it  be  thought  a  thing  incredible  that  God  should  write  in 
the  book  of  our  being  a  record   of  our  childhood  and  our 


378  SERMONS   OF 

need  of  a  Father?  Shall  the  needle  turn  to  the  north? 
Shall  the  heliotrope  follow  the  sun  ?  And  shall  the  heart  of 
man  have  no  center,  where  it  may  rest  in  safety  and  peace? 
Like  the  tidal  marks  found  in  the  lowest  rocks,  there  are 
records  even  in  the  stony  heart  of  how  high  religious  emo- 
tions may  at  one  time  have  risen." 

While  man  has  religious  instincts  that  mcline  him  to  wor- 
ship and  to  some  form  of  religion,  there  is  nothing  held  in 
higher  esteem  or  estimation  by  him  than  his  religion,  when 
he  is  sincere  in  maintaining  his  religious  principles  and 
forms.  And  whether  those  principles  and  forms  are  right  or 
wrong,  he  will  tenaciously  adhere  to  them,  if  he  sincerely 
believes  them  to  be  right.  But  the  devout  worshiper, 
however  enthusiastic  he  may  be  in  maintaining  and  living 
out  his  principles,  if  an  idolator,  he  can  not  be  said  in  truth 
to  "abhor  that  which  is  evil,"  or  to  "cleave  to  that  which  is 
good,"  for  he  may  not  be  instructed  to  know  what  is  good 
and  what  is  evil.  And  whatever  enthusiasm,  zeal  and  sac- 
rificing spirit  the  superstitious  idolator  ma}"  manifest  in  his 
religious  devotions  and  service,  the  genuine  Christian,  if  he 
does  not  show  more  of  these  than  the  idolator  does,  will 
possess  them  in  greater  efficiency  and  upon  a  much  firmer 
basis. 

The  strength  of  the  cultivated  Christian  feeling  is  clearly 
recognized  in  our  text,  and  will  be  seen  and  felt  if  the  com- 
mands contained  in  it  are  carried  out.  And  that  they  can 
be  carried  out  there  will  be  no  doubt  on  the  part  of  any  who 
believe  in  God,  and  in  the  sufficiency  of  his  grace.  Let  us 
consider  the  attitude  of  a  Christian  in  regard  to  evil  and 
good. 

/.     It  is  an  attitude  of  abhorrence  toward  evil. 

II.     It  is  an  attitude  of  sincere  admiration  of  good. 

I.  It  is  an  attitude  of  abhorrence  toward  evil.  The  word 
used  here  to  express  the  feelings  that  Christians  are  to  have 


ELDEK  JAMES  QUINTER.  379 

toward  evil  is  a  strong  one.  It  is  one  of  the  strongest  that 
our  language  affords  to  express  opposition  to  anything.  To 
remind  you  of  the  meaning  of  the  word  if  you  have  known 
it,  and  inform  you  of  that  meaning,  if  you  have  not  known 
it,  we  will  give  you  Webster's  explanation  of  it.  He  thus 
defines  it :  "  To  shrink  back  with  shuddering  from  ;  to 
regard  with  horror  or  detestation  ;  to  feel  excessive  repug- 
nance towards  ;  to  hate  extremely."  You  perceive  this  is 
making  the  word  "abhor"  express  a  good  deal,  and  all  that 
it  expresses  is  to  be  felt  against  evil  by  Christians.  It  is  not 
merely  to  abstain  from  sinful  acts,  or  from  evil  thoughts. 
It  is  not  merely  to  stand  aloof  from  sin  and  give  it  no 
encouraufement.  Our  attitude  toward  sin  must  be  decided 
and  positive.  It  must  be  one  of  abhorrence.  It  has  been 
said  that  the  word  abhor  always  implies  visiUe  hatred.  We 
are  to  show  an  abhorrence  to  evil. 

In  the  regeneration  of  man,  and  in  the  renewing  of  the 
spirit  of  his  mind,  all  the  powers  of  his  mind  and  the  affec- 
tions of  his  heart  are  brought  into  such  a  relation  to  each 
other  as  will  give  them  the  power  to  so  act  upon  each  other 
as  will  give  him  the  full  benefit  of  them  all,  and  as  will  ena- 
ble  him  to  do  what  God  requires  of  him.  With  such  a 
regeneration  and  renewing,  the  Christian  is  prepared  to  press 
forward  "  toward  the  mark  for  the  prize  of  the  high  calling 
of  God  in  Christ  Jesus."  Phil.  3  :  14.  And  the  mark  is 
holiness — the  sanctification  of  "spirit,  soul  and  body." 
1  Thess.  5  :  23.  When  such  a  state  of  holiness  is  attained 
unto,  the  whole  heart  and  life  will  be  so  imbued  with  the 
Holy  Spirit,  that  the  entire  being  will  be  in  a  state  of  antag- 
onism to  sin.  Holiness  and  sin  are  in  a  state  of  hostility  to 
one  another.  And  where  sin  no  longer  reigns,  but  becomes 
subdued  by  grace,  and  grace  reigns,  evil  will  be  abhorred. 

To  abhor  evil  there  must  necessarily  be  a  high  state  of 
holiness  cultivated. 


380  SERMONS    OF 

1.  It  implies  tliat  the  judgment  must  be  riglit.  Evil 
must  be  looked  at  from  an  intellectual  standpoint.  "When 
Paul  reasoned  before  Felix  he  reasoned  upon  righteousness? 
temperance,  and  a  judgement  to  come.  And  when  he 
reasoned  of  righteousness  he  no  doubt  reasoned  upon  sin 
likewise.  It  is  very  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  treat 
extensively  or  successfully  any  virtue  without  saying  some- 
thing upon  the  opposite  vice.  When  there  is  a  willingness 
to  learn,  and  an  open  and  candid  mind  to  receive  instruc- 
tion, there  will  be  no  difficulty  in  learning  what  may  be 
understood.  And  the  childlike  disposition  of  the  new-born 
soul  is  a  very  favorable  state  of  mind  to  learn,  and  espe- 
cially to  learn  things  of  a  moral  character.  And  evil  only 
needs  to  be  understood  to  be  abhorred.  The  great  difficulty 
in  resrard  to  the  understanding  of  evil  is  that  it  is  so  hard  to 
put  it  far  enough  from  us,  that  we  may  have  an  opportunity 
of  seeing  it  in  its  true  color  and  real  dimensions.  To  have 
an  object  too  near  the  eye,  we  can  not  see  it  so  well  as  if  it 
were  farther  away.  And  just  so  it  is  with  evil  persons  and 
evil.  It  is  too  near  to  them  for  them  to  see  it  clearly.  But 
there  is  another  difficulty.  While  we  are  in  love  with  evil, 
we  are  prejudiced  in  its  favor,  and  if  we  do  not  feel  like 
pitying  it  we  should  be  slow  to  condemn  it.  But  when 
divine  truth  enters  the  mind,  and  lays  hold  of  the  mind  and 
begins  to  work,  the  true  character  of  evil  will  begin  to 
appear,  and  if  the  approaches  of  truth  are  not  opposed,  but 
encouraged,  light  will  increase  and  evil  will  become  more 
and  more  apparent  in  all  its  hideous  forms  and  terrible 
effects.  As  already  intimated,  it  will  by  no  means  be  diffi- 
cult to  understand  the  abhorrent  character  of  evil  to  a  mind 
not  in  love  with  it,  and  that  wants  to  understand  it. 

Sin  is  so  unnatural  that  it  is  strange  that  it  should  ever 
be  regarded  with  any  favor  by  man.  When  we  say  that  it  is 
so  unnatural  we  mean  it  is  so  much  unlike  and  so  contrary  to 


ELDER    JAMES    QDINTER.  381 

the  nature  of  man  when  possessing  the  nature  in  which  he 
was  originally  formed.  Hence  to  know  evil,  to  know  that  it 
has  been  a  curse  to  our  world  and  the  destroyer  of  our  race, 
as  far  as  it  could  do  so,  is  to  advance  an  important  step  in 
the  right  direction  to  abhor  it. 

2.  While  the  understanding  in  the  performance  of  its 
office  will  enable  the  Christian  to  understand  evil,  the  con- 
science will  be  ready  to  condemn  it.  And  in  this  way  its 
true  character  will  become  still  more  manifest.  We  may 
compare  the  heart  to  a  court.  The  witnesses  are  called  up 
and  testify.  The  understanding  may  be  compared  to  the 
jury.  The  jury  hears  the  testimony.  It  is  very  plain.  The 
guilt  is  manifest.  And  the  judge,  who  may  represent  the 
conscience,  pronounces  the  sentence  of  condemnation,  and 
the  criminal  is  judged  worthy  of  death.  So  in  the  case  with 
a  Christian  man.  Evil  stands  before  him  as  a  condemned 
outlaw.     And  it  will  be  abhorred. 

3.  But  there  is  another  power  m  the  soul  of  the  Christ- 
ian to  help  him  to  abhor  that  which  is  eviL  And  that 
power  is  the  moral  feeling,  and  the  soul  of  the  Christian, 
being  purified  by  obeying  the  truth,  according  to  Peter  1 :  22, 
can  not  possibly  love  anything  that  is  impure,  and  more  than 
this,  he  will  necessarily  hate  whatever  is  evil.  The  Christ- 
ian in  his  new-birth  and  sanctification  partakes  of  the 
divine  nature.  And  this  divine  nature  can  only  look  upon 
evil  with  abhorrence.  "Oh,  do  not  this  abominable  thing 
that  I  hate,"  Jer.  44  :  4,  is  an  expression  of  God's  that  is 
instructive,  suggestive  and  admonitory.  God  hates  sin, 
and  he  has  commanded  his  people  to  "abhor  that  which  is 
evil."  And  this  is  saying  to  his  people,  in  your  Christian 
experience,  religious  nature,  and  moral  principles,  be  like 
me.  When  the  hatred  of  our  renewed  nature  is  aroused, 
and  directed  toward  evil,  the  mind  is  not  onlv  enlio:htened 
to  the  great  wrong  of  sin,  and  conscience  is  not  onlv  awak- 


382  SEEMONS   OF 

ened  to  pronounce  upon  the  wrong,  but  the  moral  feelings 
are  enlisted  against  it,  and  thus  the  entire  being  is  enlisted 
against  evil,  when  it  is  abhorred.  And  the  design  of  the 
command  "Abhor  that  which  is  evil,"  is  to  put  the  Christian 
into  such  a  state  of  hostility  against  evil.  Such  a  state  is 
a  state  of  salvation.  While  the  Christian  so  regards  evil, 
he  will  not  yield  to  its  open  threatening,  nor  to  its  deceptive 
allurements.  But  we  proceed  to  our  second  division,  the 
attitude  of  a  Christian  toward  good. 

11.  It  is  an  attitude  of  sincere  admiration  of  good. 

"  Cleave  to  that  which  is  good."  While  the  other 
admonition  or  command  requires  the  Christian  to  feel  the 
strongest  aversion  possible  of  evil,  this  requires  him  to  feel 
a  strong  attachment  to,  and  the  most  ardent  affection  for, 
what  is  good.  The  word  abhor.,  used  to  show  the  attitude  of 
the  Christian  to  evil,  is  a  very  strong  word.  And  the  word 
cleave.!  which  expresses  the  true  attitude  of  the  Christian  to 
good,  is  likewise  strong.  In  a  true  and  genuine  conversion, 
completed  by  the  reception  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  there  is  a 
remarkable  assimilation  in  the  feelings  of  the  reformed  per- 
son to  whatever  is  pure,  and  holy,  and  good.  As  we  have 
seen,  the  whole  being  of  a  Christian  abhors  sin,  and  turns 
away  from  it  with  feelings  of  aversion.  So,  on  the  other 
hand,  that  whole  being,  in  all  its  parts,  admires  what  is  good, 
and  cleaves  to  it.  The  understanding  knows  what  is  good, 
the  conscience  approves  what  is  good,  and  there  is  a  sweet 
consciousness  of  peace  felt  within  the  soul  in  the  possession 
of  what  is  spiritually  good. 

And  there  is  a  remarkable  strength  in  Christian  character 
when  the  Christian  feeling  is  properly  cultivated.  To  have 
our  whole  being,  the  intellect,  the  conscience,  and  the  affec- 
tions, turn  away  in  abhorrence  from  evil,  and  have  them  all 
turned  to  good,  is  an  experience  at  which  angels  may  well 
rejoice,  and  a  sight  at  which  Christ  may  well  be  satisfied. 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTER.  383 

when  he  contemplates  it  as  a  result  of  "the  travail  of  his 
soul."     Isa.  53  :  11. 

Our  text  is  a  very  practical  one,  and  a  very  instructive 
one.  And  we  proceed  to  offer  some  practical  thoughts  upon 
it. 

1.  "What  a  terrible  thing  sin  must  be,  that  we  are  called 
upon  to  abhor  it. 

2.  How  very  far  are  those  from  being  what  God 
requires  them  to  be,  who  are  living  in  sin,  and  who  love  sin. 
God  requires  all  to  abhor  sin,  but  instead  of  doing  so  they 
love  it. 

3.  As  sinful  as  we  may  be,  we  ave  spiritua.  natures 
that  are  susceptible  of  a  very  high  state  of  cultivation,  under 
Christian  culture.  To  abhor  evil  and  cleave  to  ffood,  indi- 
Gates  a  high  state  of  holiness. 

4.  We  learn  from  our  text  how  the  yoke  of  Christ 
becomes  easy  and  how  his  yoke  becomes  light.  Matt,  11 :29. 
If  we  attain  unto  the  experience  that  is  indicated  in  our 
text,  a  Christian  life  will  not  only  be  pleasant,  but  it  will 
also  be  easy.  Can  it  possibly  be  any  great  trouble  to  us  to 
abstain  from  any  evil  if  we  abhor  it?  Certainly  not.  We  do 
not  want  to  have  anything  to  do  with  what  we  hate.  Then 
if  a  Christian  attains  unto  that  strength  of  Christian  feeling 
indicated  in  ihe  text,  and  abhors  evil,  it  will  be  no  diflSculty 
for  him  to  abstain  from  evil.  There  has  been  a  great  deal 
said  about  the  evil  of  drunkenness.  And  a  very  strong  feel- 
ing of  abhorrence  has  been  created  against  it.  Now  it  is  not 
hard  for  those  that  abhor  the  evil  of  drunkenness  to  abstain 
from  what  \\\\\  make  drunk.  So  it  will  be  with  other  evils. 
Let  the  practice  of  lying  be  studied,  and  let  the  evil  of  it  be 
seen,  and  then  it  will  be  abhorred,  and  if  abhorred,  it  will 
not  be  indulged  in.  In  the  same  way  with  pride.  Let  it  be 
looked  at  in  the  light  of  revealed  truth.  And  if  we  have  a 
proper  Christian  culture,  we  will  abhor  it,  and  then  there 
will  be  no  inclination  to  indulge  in  it. 


384  SERMONS   OF 

And  then  again,  if  we  have  so  cultivated  our  Christian 
feehngs  as  to  live,  admire  and  cleave  to  what  is  good,  it  will 
be  no  hardship,  but  a  pleasure,  to  respond  to  every  duty, 
and  to  every  work  the  heavenly  Master  shall  call  us  to. 

Now,  my  friends,  does  not  our  text  present  Christianity 
in  a  very  interesting  and  commendable  light  ?  Sin  is  our 
worst  enemy,  and  we  are  to  abstain  from  it.  Spiritual  good- 
ness, which  will  make  us  good,  is  our  best  portion,  and  tliat 
we  are  to  love.  And  in  our  conversion  by  and  to  Christ- 
ianity, we  get  a  divine  nature,  which  will  "abhor  that  wliich 
is  evil,  and  cleave  to  that  which  is  good."  If  we  are  thor- 
oughly imbued  with  the  spirit  of  Christianity,  we  can  do 
our  duty  with  ease  and  pleasure. 


xxxyi. 

A  FATHERLY  APPEAL. 

"  A  son  honoreth  his  father,  and  a  servant  his  master :  if 
then  I  be  a  father,  where  is  mine  honor?  and  if  I  be  a  mas- 
ter, where  is  my  fear?  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts  unto  you,  O 
priests,  that  despise  my  name."     Mai.  1  :  6. 

On  another  occasion,  in  an  address  unto  his  unfaithful 
people,  the  Lord  said,  "  Come  now,  and  let  usreason  togethei'." 
Isa.  1  :  18.  So  in  our  text  the  Lord  reasons  with  his  peo- 
ple who  were  again  out  of  the  way,  as  they  were  in  the  time 
of  Isaiah  the  prophet,  when  the  above  language  quoted  was 
used.  They  often  stepped  aside  from  the  path  of  duty  and 
walked  in  the  way  that  was  not  right.  Hence  the  frequent 
reproofs  that  they  received  from  the  Lord,  for  as  often  as 
they  sinned  they  were  reproved  by  the  Lord.  This  reproof 
was  given  to  the  priests  of  the  Lord,  but  it  applies  to  the 
whole  Jewish  nation.     For  if  there  was  corruption  in  the 


ELDER  JAMES   QUINTER.  385 

priesthood,  it  would  extend  to  the  body  of  the  people,  for 
"there  shall  be  like  people,  like  priests,"  ITos.  4  :  9.  And 
though  the  apostasy  was  common  among  the  people,  the 
priests  were  addressed  because  upon  them,  as  the  leaders 
and  teachers  of  the  people,  the  greatest  responsibility 
rested.  The  text  is  a  fatherly  expostulation  on  the  part  of 
the  God  of  Israel  with  his  disobedient  people.  And  the 
imjjlied  unfaithfulness  of  the  Jews  belongs  to  the  Gentiles 
and  to  the  churches  of  the  Gentiles,  more  or  less,  as  it 
belonged,  or  as  it  was  justly  applicable  to  the  Jewish  church 
and  nation  in  the  time  of  Malachi,  about  four  hundred  years 
before  Christ.  How  very  imperfectly  are  the  duties  which 
grow  out  of  the  relation  that  we  stand  in  to  God  as  our 
Father  and  our  Master  performed  by  us!  Our  subject  will 
be  a  Fatherly  Appeal.  And  in  order  that  the  practical  appli- 
cation which  we  may  make  of  the  text  may  be  the  better 
understood  and  remembered,  we  shall  present  our  thouglits 
under  the  following  heads : 

/.  God  sustains  the  relation  of  Father  and  Master  to  the 
human  race.,  and  especially  to  Christian  helievers. 

II.  As  there  are  duties  incumbent  upon  the  son  ana  ser- 
vant growing  out  of  the  relation  they  stand  in  to  the  father 
and  master,  so  there  are  duties  incumhent  upon  men  groxoing 
out  of  the  relation  they  stand  in  to  God  as  their  Father  and 
Master. 

III.  However  common  it  is  for  the  son  arid  the  servant  to 
perform  their  duties  to  their  father  and  master,  men  generally 
neglect  their  duties  to  God. 

IV.  We  shall  offer  some  reasons  why  the  duties  that  men 
as  the  sons  and  servants  of  God  owe  to  him  should  heperfornud. 

I.  God  sustains  the  relation  of  father  and  master  to  the 
human  race,  and  especially  to  Christian  believers. 

1.  That  God  sustains  the  relations  here  attributed  to 
him,  is  plainly  implied  in  the  text,    "  If  I  then  be  a  Father, 


386  SERMONS  of 

where  is  my  honor,  and  if  I  be  a  Master,  where  is  my  fear  ?  '^ 
This  language  plainly  implies  that  God  sustains  the  relation 
of  Father  and  Master  to  his  creatures.  That  is,  it  is  plain 
that  God  himself  recognizes  such  a  relationship  existing 
between  him  and  mankind.  And  if  he  recognizes  such  a 
relationship,  it  must  exist.  And  he,  recognizing  the  exist- 
ence of  such  a  relationship  to  his  creatures,  exercises  a 
father's  care  over  them,  and  feels  a  father's  love  towards 
them.  And  he,  performing  the  part  of  a  kind  and  loving 
father,  and  of  a  good  and  merciful  master  towards  his  crea- 
tures, requires,  and  he  can  do  so  with  the  greatest  propriety 
and  justice,  their  honor  and  fear. 

2.  That  God  sustains  the  relationship  of  father  and 
master  to  mankind,  is  not  only  recognized  in  the  text, 
but  it  is  also  recognized  by  other  passages  of  Script- 
ure. The  universal  fatherhood  of  God  over  all  man- 
kind is  plainly  recognized  and  taught  by  Paul  in  his 
able  and  interesting  discourse  to  the  people  of  Athens, 
when  he  took  as  the  basis  of  his  discourse  the  inscription  on 
their  altar,  "to  the  unknown  God."  In  that  discourse  he 
declared  that  God  "  hath  made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of 
men  for  to  dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the  earth,  and  hath  de- 
termined the  times  before  appointed,  and  the  bounds  of 
their  habitation.  ...  In  him  we  live  and  move,  and 
have  our  being;  as  certain  also  of  3^our  own  poets  have  said, 
for  we  are  also  his  offspring.  Forasmuch  then  as  we  are 
the  offspring  of  God,  we  ought  not  to  think  that  the  God- 
head is  like  unto  gold,  or  silver,  or  stone,  graven  by  art  and 
man's  device."  Acts  17  :  26-29.  Paul  here  recognizes  the 
truth  of  the  passage  of  the  Greek  poets  in  which  we  are  all 
declared  to  be  the  offspring  of  God.  Then  he  is  the  common 
father  of  us  all.  And  in  accepting  this  idea  taught  by  the 
Greeks,  namely,  that  we  are  all  the  offspring  of  God,  Paul 
makes  it  the  basis  of  a  very  logical  argument  by  jtvhich  he 


ELDER  J  A  Mess  QmNTER.  387 

proves  the  absurdity  of  their  idols.  They  acknowledged 
themselves  to  be  tiie  offspring  of  God.  But  they  could  not 
possibly  be  the  offspring  of  gold,  or  silver,  or  stone.  So 
Paul  tells  them  that  they  should  not  believe  the  Godhead, 
that  is  their  acknowledged  parent,  is  like  unto  gold,  or 
silver,  or  stone.  For  if  the  Godhead  was  like  unto  any 
thing  of  that  kind,  they  could  not  possibly  be  his  offspring. 
Darwinism,  as  absurd  as  it  may  be,  is  less  so  than  idolatry. 
For  Darwinism  recognizes  a  germ  of  life  as  the  origin  of 
man,  but  heathen  idolatry  in  theory  recognized  man  to  be 
the  offspring  of  gods  made  of  gold,  or  silver,  or  stone. 

So  we  find  the  mastership  of  God  is  taught  in  the  Script- 
ures. If  we  have  been  made  by  him  we  surely  are  his. 
And  all  that  w^e  have  justly  belongs  to  him.  "  We  are  not 
our  (^wn."'  If  then  we  ourselves  belong  to  God,  surely  our 
service  belongs  to  him,  and  he  is  properly  our  master,  and 
justly  claims  our  fear,  and  all  that  a  faithful  servant  owes 
to  a  good  and  kind  master.  When  the  Saviour  washed  his 
disciples'  feet,  he  said  to  them,  "Ye  call  me  master  and 
Lord :  and  ye  say  well ;  for  so  I  am."  John  13:13.  In  the 
parable  of  the  talents  we  have  both  the  good  and  bad 
recognized  to  be  the  servants  of  God.  Those  represented 
by  the  faithful  servants  served  God,  and  were  good.  Those 
represented  by  the  wicked  servant  were  wicked,  and  served 
him  not.     So  God  is  the  Father  and  Master  of  all  men. 

Again  as  a  Father  and  Master  God  provides  for  all  his 
creatures.  The  food  that  they  eat  to  sustain  life,  the  gar- 
ments with  which  they  are  covered,  and  the  houses  in  which 
they  are  sheltered,  are  all  the  result  of  his  gracious  provi- 
dence. All  the  materials  from  which  the  comforts  of  life 
are  formed  are  the  fruit  or  production  of  the  benevolent 
laws  by  which  God  governs  the  world.  Man  with  all  his 
wisdom  and  power  cannot  produce,  independently  of  God, 
what  is  necessary  to  promote  the  life,  well-being  and  enjoy- 


388  SEEMONS    OF 

ment  of  his  race.  The  refreshing  showers,  the  fertiUzing 
dews,  and  the  quickening  rays  of  tlie  sun  are  not  under  the 
control  of  man,  but  are  all  under  the  control  of  our  heav- 
enly Father.  It  is  he  that  "  maketh  his  sun  to  rise  on  the 
evil  and  on  the  good,  and  sendeth  rain  on  the  just  and  on 
the  unjust."  David,  when  looking  at  God  as  we  are  looking 
at  him,  as  the  great  provider  for  all  his  creatures,  and  as  the 
source  of  all  good,  says,  "The  Lord  upholdeth  all  that  fall, 
and  raiseth  up  all  those  that  be  bowed  down.  The  eyes  of 
all  wait  upon  thee;  and  thou  givest  them  their  meat  in  due 
season.  Thou  openest  thy  hand,  and  satisfiest  the  desire  of 
every  living  thing."  Ps.  145  :  14-16.  Thus  as  a  kind  Father 
and  Master  God  makes  timely  and  suitable  provision  for  all 
his  creatures. 

///.  As  there  are  duties  incumhent  upon  the  son  and^serv- 
ant  growing  out  of  the  relation  they  stand  in  to  the  father  and 
master^  so  there  are  duties  incumbent  upon  tnen  growing  out 
of  the  relation  '  ey  stand  in  to  God,  as  their  Father  and 
Master. 

"A  son  honoreth  his  father,  and  a  servant  his  master." 
That  is,  a  good  son  and  a  good  servant  will  do  as  is  here 
affirmed  of  them.  It  is  their  duty  to  do  so,  and  they  will 
do  their  duty.  Just  so  men  should  do  to  God.  The  obli- 
gations, however,  that  men  are  under  to  love,  honor  and 
serve  God,  are  much  greater  than  those  the  son  are  under  to 
the  father,  or  the  servant  to  the  master.  The  honor 
which  we  pay  to  parents  is  but  a  small  part  of  the  honor 
which  we  owe  to  God.  We  are  to  entertain  the  most  pro- 
found reverence  and  the  highest  respect  for  his  person,  his 
character,  and  his  will.  The  son  will  be  likely  to  have  great 
confidence  in  his  father.  What  father  does,  or  what  our 
parents  do,  we  commonly  think  must  be  right,  where  there 
is  a  proper  feeling  existing  between  parents  and  children. 
And  so  the  servant  will  have  confidence  in  his  master's 


ELDER   JAMES    QDINTER.  389 

judgment,  and  respect  to  his  master's  will.  But  tiiere  are 
bounds  beyond  which  no  human  authority  extends,  and 
when  these  are  passed,  resistance  rather  than  obedience  may 
be  our  duty.  But  God's  authority  is  supreme,  and  it  knows 
no  bounds.  Whatever  he  says  we  are  to  believe,  and  what- 
ever he  does  we  are  to  be  satisfied  with,  and  whatever  he 
commands  we  are  to  obey  without  hesitation.  Against  a 
divine  command  there  is  no  excuse  for  the  exercise  of  carnal 
reason.     Our  obedience  must  be  prompt  and  complete. 

The  obedience,  however,  that  we  render  to  God  as  a 
divine  Father  and  Master,  must  not  be  that  of  a  slave 
rendered  to  a  cruel  master,  but  it  must  be  that  of  an  affec- 
tionate child  to  a  loving  parent.  We  like  our  children  to 
obey  us  cheerfully  as  well  as  promptly.  And  so  we  must 
obey  our  heavenl}'^  Father.  He  loves  a  cheerful  giver. 
"  God  loveth  a  cheerful  giver."  2  Cor.  9  :  7.  This 
applies  to  all  our  services,  and  to  all  our  offerings 
given  to  the  Lord.  We  are  admonished  by  Paul  to  serve 
one  another  "  by  love."  Gal.  5 :  13.  And  if  we  are  to 
serve  one  another  by  love,  much  more  are  we  to  serve  the 
Lord  "by  love." 

We  have  some  ideas  in  the  chapter  in  which  our  text 
occurs  that  should  be  read  in  connection  with  the  foregoing 
remarks  in  regard  to  the  cheerful,  willing  and  loving  spirit 
in  which  we  are  to  serve  God  as  our  Father  and  Master. 
Those  ideas  to  which  we  refer  show  how  extremely  selfish 
men  may  become,  even  in  the  holy  service  of  God.  The  fol- 
lowing language  shows  the  mercenary  and  selfish  spirit  by 
which  the  priests  were  actuated  in  rendering  their  service  to 
the  Lord:  "  Who  is  there  even  among  you  that  would  shut 
the  doors  for  nought?  neither  do  you  kindle  fire  on  mine 
altar  for  nought.  I  have  no  pleasure  in  you,  saith  the  Lord 
of  hosts,  neither  will  I  accept  an  offering  at  your  hands." 
V.  10.    The  priests  would  do  nothing  unless  they  were  paid 


390  SERMONS   OF 

for  it.  They  would  not  so  much  as  shut  the  doovB  or  kindle 
a  fire  for  nothing.  Provision  was  made  for  their  support  by 
the  Lord,  But  they  would  do  no  extra  work  without  extra 
pay.  They  would  not  even  do  such  little  things  as  are 
named  without  receiving  some  compensation  for  it,  show- 
ing clearly  that  they  had  no  love  for  the  work  they  were 
engaged  in,  nor  any  love  to  the  Lord.  It  was  the  reward 
they  wanted.  For  this  alone  they  labored.  Such  merce- 
nary or  selfish  service  the  Lord  would  not  accept.  He 
declared  in  regard  to  it,  "  I  have  no  pleasure  in  you,  saith 
the  Lord  of  hosts,  neither  will  I  accept  an  offering  at  your 
hand."  Christian  ministers  should  be  careful  that  they  do 
not  permit  themselves  to  be  governed  in  their  holy  labors 
by  a  love  "for  filthy  lucre."  1  Peter,  5  :  2.  Ministers  should 
be  helped,  but  money  must  not  be  their  object,  or  the  Lord 
will  have  no  pleasure  in  them. 

The  son  that  loves  the  father  and  honors  him  will  love  to 
be  with  his  father.  Some  of  us  will  remember  how  we  loved 
to  be  with  our  father,  in  the  field,  or  in  the  shop,  or  in  the 
house,  or  wherever  our  father  was.  If  a  child  is  not  happy 
at  home  there  is  something  wrong.  And  does  not  the  child 
of  God  love  to  be  with  his  heavenly  Father,  and  with  his 
Father's  family,  and  in  his  Father's  house,  in  the  place  where 
Christians  meet  to  worship?  This  he  does.  And  he  honors 
his  Father  by  showing  such  an  attachment  to  his  person  and 
to  his  house  and  family.  The  Jew  honored  God  and  his 
holy  service  when  he  said  in  his  captivity,  "  Let  my  tongue 
cleave  to  the  roof  of  my  mouth  if  I  prefer  not  Jerusalem 
above  my  chief  joy."  Ps.  137:  6.  The  son  that  properly 
honors  his  father  will  labor  to  maintain  the  honor  and  dig- 
nity of  his  father's  family.  So  the  sons  of  God  that  honor 
him  as  they  should,  will  labor  to  maintain  the  honor  of  the 
church  by  laboring  to  promote  its  purity,  its  peace,  its  sound- 
ness of  doctrine  and   its  success.     And  as  the  servants  of 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTEK.  891 

God  we  should  take  a  proper  interest  in  all  that  pertains  to 
the  great  work  of  righteousness,  which  is  so  dear  to  God, 
and  which  he  takes  so  much  interest  in  as  the  reformatory 
agent  by  which  he  seeks  to  reform  the  world.  We  should 
pursue  our  work  with  all  the  honesty,  diligence,  faithfulness 
and  love  which  characterize  the  2:ood  serv^ants  of  men. 

///.  However  common  it  is  for  the  son  and  the  servants 
to  perform  their  duties  to  their  father  and  master,  men  gener- 
ally neglect  their  duties  to  God. 

"  If  I  then  be  a  father,  where  is  mine  hope  %  and  if  I  be  a 
master,  where  is  my  fear?  As  the  state  of  the  Jewish 
nation  at  the  time  the  text  was  spoken  was  very  corrupt,  as 
appears  from  the  context,  the  Lord  might  well  ask  the  ques- 
tion that  he  did,  and  make  the  complaint  that  is  implied  in 
it.  For  it  appears  he  was  by  no  means  honored  and  feared 
as  he  should  have  been.  And  how  is  it  witli  us  at  this  time  ? 
Are  we  as  Christians  honoring  and  pleasing  him  as  we 
should  ?  Are  we  honoring  him  as  obedient  children  honor 
their  parents?  And  are  we  fearing  him  as  faithful  servants 
fear  their  masters  ?  Might  he  not  with  much  propriety  com- 
plain of  us,  01'  at  least  of  many  of  us  as  he  complained  of  the 
Jews? 

And  how  is  it  with  those  who  are  unconverted  ?  And  is 
he  their  Father  and  their  Master  too  ?  He  is  as  we  have 
clearly  seen.  And  he  appeals  to  them  and  says,  "  Where  is 
mine  honor?  and  where  is  my  fear?"  Dear  friends,  awake 
to  your  danger  and  duty,  and  let  your  inquiry  be,  '"Lord, 
what  wilt  thou  have  me  to  do?"  You  will  find  that  he  will 
have  you  all  to  honor  and  fear  him.  Do  this,  and  do  it  now, 
and  you  will  be  blessed  in  the  deed.  • 

lY.  We  shall  offer  some  reasons  why  loe  shoidd  Jionor 
and  fear  God. 

First,  It  is  right  that  we  should  do  so.     The  relation  Ave 
stand  in  to  him  as  sons  and  servants,  makes  it  our  duty  to  do 


392  SERMONS   OF 

SO.  Second,  If  we  fail  to  honor  and  fear  God,  while  we  are 
his  sons  and  servants,  we  must  meet  the  punishment  that 
disobedient  children  and  unfaithful  servants  are  doomed  to 
meet.  It  is  a  great  sin  to  disobey  the  lawful  commands  of 
a  parent  and  to  violate  a  lawful  contract  with  a  master. 
Consequently,  the  punishment  is  to  be  feared.  Third,  if  we 
honor  God  as  a  son  honors  the  father,  and  fear  him  as  a 
servant  fears  the  master,  he  will,  when  he  "makes  up  his 
jewels,"  o^vn  us  his,  and  "spare  us  as  a  man  spareth  his  own 
son  that  serveth  him,"  and  reward  us  as  faithful  servants, 
with  an  •'  exceeding  great  reward." 


XXXVIL 

THE  MISSION  OF  CHRIST. 

"Then  the  Pharisees  went  out,  and  held  a  council  agamst 
him,  how  they  might  destroy  him.  But  when  Jesus  knew 
it,  he  withdrew  himself  from  thence;  and  great  multitudes 
followed  him  and  he  healed  them  all;  and  charged  them 
that  they  should  not  make  him  known  that  it  might  be  ful- 
filled which  was  spoken  by  Esaias  the  prophet,  saying, 
behold  my  servant  whom  I  have  chosen  :  my  beloved,  in 
whom  my  soul  is  well  pleased.  I  will  put  my  spirit  upon 
him,  and  he  shall  shew  judgment  to  the  Gentiles.  He  shall 
neither  strive  nor  cry;  neither  shall  any  man  hear  his  voice 
in  the  streets.  A  bruised  reed  shall  he  not  break,  and  smok- 
ing flax  shall  he  not  quench,  till  he  send  forth  judgment 
unto  victorv.  And  in  his  name  shall  the  Gentiles  trust." 
Matt.  12:  14-2 1» 

The  text  is  made  up  of  the  language  of  the  evangelist 
and  of  the  prophet  Isaiah.  The  evangelist  in  pursuing  his 
narrative  or  life  of  Christ  comes  to  that  period  and  work  in 
his  life  to  which  the  language  of  the  prophet  refers.     The 


ELDER   JAMES   QUINTER.  393 

prophets  wrote  much  of  the  life  of  Christ  prospect ivel3^ 
The  evangelists  wrote  it  retrospectively.  And  they  both 
agree.  There  is  a  remarkable  harmony  between  Isaiah  and 
Matthew.  Our  subject  will  be,  The  mission  of  Christ.  His 
mission  or  work  is  presented  to  us  in  the  Scriptures  under  a 
variety  of  aspects  or  under  various  names,  all  expressive  of 
some  prominent  feature  in  his  work.  In  our  text  his  work 
is  said  by  the  prophet  to  be  "to  shew  judgment  to  the 
Gentiles." 

1.  Our  first  leading  thought,  then,  will  be  the  work 
itself  which  our  Lord  came  to  do,  which  is,  as  we  said,  to 
shew  judgment  to  the  Gentiles.  And  what  are  we  to  under- 
stand by  this?  By  judgment  we  are  not  to  understand 
calamity  and  punishment  inflicted  by  the  Lord  upon  indi- 
viduals and  nations  on  account  of  their  sins,  though  this  is 
the  meaning  of  the  word  as  it  is  frequently  used  in  the 
Scriptures,  and  it  may  be  a  remote  meaning  of  the  text,  or 
a  meaning  that  is  not  primary,  as  it  is  a  Scriptural  doctrine 
that  in  the  finishing  up  of  his  work  our  Lord  will  punish 
the  ungodly  nations  of  the  earth  for  their  disobedience. 
"  And  to  you  who  are  troubled  rest  with  us,  when  the  Lord 
Jesus  shall  be  revealed  from  heaven  with  his  mighty  angels, 
in  flaming  fire,  taking  vengeance  on  them  that  know  not 
God,  and  that  obey  not  the  Gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ ; 
who  shall  be  punished  with  everlasting  destruction  from  the 
presence  of  the  Lord  and  from  the  glory  of  His  power." 
2  Thess.  1 :  7-9.  But  we  are  to  understand  it  to  mean  in 
our  text  what  it  means  when  it  is  used  in  the  following 
Scriptures  :  "  My  soul  breaketh  for  the  longing  that  it  hath 
unto  thy  judgments  at  all  times."  Ps.  119  :  20.  "  Blessed 
are  they  that  keep  judgment,  and  he  that  doeth  righteous- 
ness at  all  times."  Ps.  106  :  3.  "  But  woe  unto  you,  Phari- 
sees !  for  ye  tithe  mint  and  rue  and  all  manner  of  herbs,  and 
pass  over  judgment  and  the  love  of  God  ;  these  ought  ye  to 


394  SERMONS   OF 

have  done,  and  not  to  leave  the  others  undone."  I^uke  11 : 
42.  Among  the  definitions  vfhich  Webster  gives  of  judg- 
ment is  the  following:  "  The  doctrines  of  the  Gospel  or 
God's  word."  And  he  refers  to  the  occurrence  of  the  word 
judgment  in  our  text  to  justify  his  definition.  We  then 
understand  by  the  phrase,  "  To  shew  judgment  to  the  Gen- 
tiles," which,  according  to  our  text  was  our  Lord's  commis- 
sion, means  that  he  was  to  shew  to  the  world,  in  all  their 
plainness,  excellence  and  beauty,  the  great  principles  of 
truth  and  righteousness  as  they  are  manifested  both  in  the 
character  and  law  of  God. 

The  great  principles  of  truth,  justice,  and  righteousness, 
which  characterize  the  law  of  God,  and  should  form  the 
character  of  men,  as  they  form  the  character  of  God  and  all 
holy  intelligences,  though  they  had  been  introduced  into  the 
world  and  written,  first,  upon  the  human  heart  in  the  primi- 
tive state  of  man,  and  afterward  upon  the  tables  of  stone  in 
the  law  which  God  gave  unto  his  people  Israel,  nevertheless, 
but  little  of  those  principles  was  seen  in  its  practical  application 
in  governing  the  dealings  of  men  with  one  another,  or  in 
governing  their  worship  or  duty  to  God.  The  honest  con- 
fession of  Israel  shows  the  moral  state  of  the  Jewish  nation 
in  the  time  of  the  prophet  Isaiah,  who  thus  gives  that  con- 
fession :  "  For  our  transgressions  are  multiplied  before  thee, 
and  our  sins  testify  against  us:  for  our  transgressions  are 
with  us ;  and  as  for  our  iniquities,  we  know  them  ;  in  trans- 
gressing and  lying  against  the  Lord,  and  in  departing  away 
from  our  God,  speaking  oppression  and  revolt,  conceiving 
and  uttering  from  the  heart  words  of  falsehood.  And  judg- 
ment is  turned  away  backward,  and  justice  standeth  afar 
off:  for  truth  is  fallen  in  the  street,  and  equity  can  not 
enter.  Yea,  truth  faileth ;  and  he  that  departeth  from  evil 
maketh  himself  a  prey :  and  the  Lord  saw  it  and  it  displeased 
him  that  there  Avas  no  judgment."    Isai.  59  :  12-15.     Such 


ELDER   JAMES   QUINTER.  395 

is  the  moral  picture  of  the  Jewish  world  as  drawn  by  the 
inspired  prophet.  Our  Lord's  description  of  the  Jewish 
nation  is  as  dark  as  that  drawn  by  Isaiah.  The  following 
was  one  of  the  charges  he  made  against  it:  "Thus  have  ye 
made  the  commandment  of  God  of  none  effect  by  your 
tradition."  Matt.  15  :  6.  This  was  in  reference  to  the  duty 
that  children  owed  to  their  parents.  In  the  same  discourse 
he  shows  their  delinquency  in  performing  in  the  proper 
manner  their  duty  to  God.  Quoting  the  language  of  the 
prophet  Isaiah,  he  says,  "  This  people  draweth  nigh  unto  me 
with  their  mouth,  and  honoreth  me  with  their  lips;  but 
their  heart  is  far  from  me.  But  in  vain  they  worship  me, 
teaching  for  doctrines  the  commandments  of  men."  Matt. 
15  :  8,  9.  And  the  apostle  Paul  in  his  epistle  to  the  Christ- 
ians at  Kome,  in  showing  the  necessity  of  Christ  and  his 
righteousness,  gives  a  very  low  view  of  the  moral  character 
of  both  Jews  and  Gentiles,  and  declares ."  there  is  no  differ- 
ence :  for  all  have  sinned,  and  come  short  of  the  glory  of 
God."     Eom.  3  :  22,  23. 

Such  being  the  moral  condition  of  the  world,  there  seems 
to  have  been  a  necessity  for  our  Lord's  coming  into  the 
world  as  a  teacher  to  teach  or  "  shew  judgment  to  the  Gen- 
tiles," and  also  to  deliver  man  from  the  debilitating  effects 
of  sin,  that  he  might  have  moral  strength  to  do,  as  well  as 
divine  light  to  know,  his  duty.  And  to  meet  all  man's  moral 
wants,  Christ  "  is  made  unto  us  wisdom,  and  righteousness, 
and  sanctification,  and  redemption.  1  Cor.  1 :  30.  But  why 
is  it  that  he  was  to  sheAV  judgment  unto  the  Gentiles?  From 
the  above  view  we  have  given  of  the  Jews,  it  is  evident  that 
these  needed,  as  well  as  the  Gentiles,  to  have  judgment 
preached  to  them.  And  we  are  not  to  understand  that  our 
Lord  was  to  shew  judgment  to  the  Gentiles  only.  But  as 
the  Jews  had  been  the  special  subjects  of  God's  favors  in 
the  former  dispensation,  and  as  the  religious  wants  of  the 


396  SERMONS   OF 

Gentiles  had,  apparently,  or  in  some  degree,  been  overlooked 
by  the  Lord  for  awhile  until  the  Saviour  would  come  into 
the  world,  when  his  coming  is  referred  to,  the  Gentiles  are 
mentioned  with  distinction,  because  in  the  Christian  brother- 
hood "  there  is  neither  Jew  nor  Greek,  there  is  neither  bond 
nor  free,  there  is  neither  male  nor  female :  for  ye  are  all  one 
in  Christ  Jesus."  Gal.  3 :  28.  The  Jews  were  to  have  no 
less  privileges  than  they  had  before,  but  the  Gentiles  were 
to  have  many  more.  Hence  these  are  made  so  prominent  in 
many  of  the  prophecies  which  refer  to  the  Christian  church 
and  dispensation. 

II.  In  the  second  place  we  shall  notice  the  fitness  of  our 
Lord  for  his  work.  1.  He  was  chosen  by  the  Lord.  And  we 
may  safely  conclude  that  as  he  was  chosen  by  God  to  per- 
form the  responsible,  laborious,  and  painful  work  allotted  to 
him,  that  he  was  fitted  for  the  work  to  which  he  was  called. 
God  is  not  mistaken  in  those  whom  he  calls  to  execute  his 
purposes.  If  they  are  not  qualified  he  can  and  will  qualify 
them. 

2.  The  second  qualification  we  shall  notice  in  the  fitness 
of  our  Lord  for  his  work,  was  his  servant-like  character. 
"  Behold  my  servant,"  exclaims  the  Father.  There  was 
nothing  whatever  dishonorable  or  low  in  the  oiRce  of  a 
servant  in  our  Redeemer's  estimation  to  lead  him  to  reject 
it.  Service  in  useful  and  proper  work  is  not  dishonorable. 
Especially  is  this  the  case  with  the  servants  of  God.  His 
servants  are  employed  in  doing  good.  And  they  have  no 
occasion  to  be  ashamed  either  of  their  name  or  of  their  work 
The  Saviour  in  teaching  men  their  duty  in  all  its  parts,  and 
in  giving  them  hearts  to  do  it,  had  a  great  work  to  do.  He 
had  to  deliver  them  "  from  the  power  of  darkness."  Col. 
1 :  13.  He  had  also  to  renew  them  in  the  spirit  of  their  mind. 
Eph.  4 :  23.  To  regenerate  and  reform  guilty  and  ruined 
sinners  requires  work.     And  Christ  had  a  work  to  do  which 


ELDER   JAMES   QUINTER.  397 

none  but  he  himself  could  do.  And  he  did  it,  and  he  did  it 
cheerfully  and  successfully.  And  he  could  with  propriety 
say,  as  he  did  say  in  his  prayer  to  his  heavenly  Father,  "I 
have  finished  the  work  thou  gavest  me  to  do."  John  17  :  4. 
Yes,  he  was  a  servant ;  and  no  service  was  too  laborious,  too 
humble,  or  too  painful  for  him  to  do,  if  faithfulness  to  his 
calling  required  it.  His  humiliation  astonished  both  men 
and  angels.  Peter  could  not  entertain  the  thought  that  his 
Lord  should  wash  his  feet. 

3.  The  third  qualijication  alluded  to,  fitting  him  for  his 
work,  was  the  receiving  of  the  Spirit.  "I  will  put  my  spirit 
upon  him."  How  fully  this  promise  was  accomplished, 
the  wonderful  account  of  his  baptism  shows.  "And  Jesus, 
when  he  was  baptized,  went  up  straightway  out  of  the 
water;  and,  lo,  the  heavens  were  opened  unto  him,  and  he 
saw  the  spirit  of  God  descending  like  a  dove,  and  lighting 
upon  him;  and  lo  a  voice  from  heaven  saying,  "this  is  my 
beloved  Son,  in  whom  I  am  well  pleased."  Matt,  3  :  16,  17. 
He  was  now  anointed  with  the  Holy  Spirit,  Acts  10:38, 
and  fully  fitted  for  his  great  work,  and  hoAv  successfully  he 
accomplished  it  will  be  seen  in  the  further  opening  of  our 
subject. 

III.  The  manner  w  which  our  Lord  performed  hisivm'k 
will  he  the  next  point  in  our  subject  to  he  noticed. 

1.  He  worked  very  silently,  or  without  noise  and  osten- 
tation. "He  shall  not  strive,  nor  cry;  neither  shall  any 
man  hear  his  voice  in  the  streets,"  Our  Lord's  modest  and 
unostentatious  manner  characterized  all  his  labors.  Oh, 
how  unlike  the  clamorous  and  noisy  world  was  he!  And 
who  will  not  join  in  the  wish  and  prayer  that  his  professed 
embassadors,  who  claim  to  be  engaged  in  the  same  holy  and 
benevolent  work,  may  learn  of  him  to  work  in  the  same 
modest  and  humble  way?  How  truly  has  the  apostle  said, 
in  referring  to  our  Lord's  humiliation,  "  He  made  himself  of 


898  SEHMoNs    0^ 

no  reputation."  Phil.  2:7.  He  sought  not  the  hanof  and 
applause  of  the  world.  We  are  informed  by  the  evangelist 
in  our  text  that,  after  he  had  healed  the  multitude,  "he 
charged  them  that  they  should  not  make  him  known."  How 
different  is  the  spirit  that  we  often  see  in  professing  Christ- 
ians, and  even  in  ministers,  to  that  which  the  Saviour  mani- 
fested !  His  was  modest,  meek,  quiet,  and  unassuming, 
while  theirs  is  aspiring  after  the  honor  and  applause  of  men. 
We  sometimes  find  even  ministers  who  are  so  injudicious  as 
to  show  an  anxiety  to  know  what  is  thought  of  their  preach- 
ing. Our  great  concern  should  be  to  preach  to  please  God, 
and  to  acquit  ourselves  before  him,  and  patiently  wait  for 
his  approval  and  honor. 

2.  Our  Lord  pursued  his  work  tenderly  as  well  as  meekly 
and  unostentatiously.  "  A  bruised  reed  shall  he  not  break, 
and  smoking  flax  shall  he  not  quench,  till  he  send  forth 
judgment  unto  victory."  A  bruised  reed  not  strong  enough 
to  stand  erect,  or  with  its  head  bending  toward  the  ground, 
and  the  flame  of  a  lampwick  almost  extinguished,  are  very 
suitable  emblems  of  the  weak  and  discouraging  condition 
of  many  of  the  frail  sons  and  daughters  of  men.  Many  of 
that  kind  probably  had  been  in  the  multitude  that  had  just 
been  present  with  our  Lord.  And  perhaps  his  tender  treat- 
ment of  those  physically  or  morally  diseased  suggested  to 
the  evangelist  the  prophecy.  The  statement  that  our  com- 
passionate and  merciful  Redeemer  would  not  quench  the 
burning  wick  so  nearly  extinguished,  nor  break  the  reed  so 
easily  broken  after  it  was  bruised,  was  a  figurative  way  of 
saying  that  he  would  heal  the  sick,  encourage  the  despond- 
ing, and  pardon  the  humble  penitent.  Young  beginners  in 
a  Christian  life  are  often  like  the  bruised  reed  or  smoking 
flax,  and  they  should  be  tenderly  dealt  with  by  the  stronger 
Christians.  The  spirit  of  Christ  in  his  disciples  will  make 
them  like  their  Master,  "kind  one  to  another,  tender-hearted, 


fetDER  JAMES   QUlNTEft.  390 

forgiving  one  another,  even  as  God  for  Christ's  sake  hath 
forgiven  you."     Eph.  4  :  32. 

ly.  The  next  point  in  our  text  to  he  noticed  will  he  our 
Lorcfs  success.  "  Till  he  send  forth  judgment  unto  victory,'" 
The  prophet  foresees  and  foretells  the  success  of  Christ's 
mission.  We  may  look  at  this  success  under  three  aspects. 
1.  At  his  success  in  establishing  his  church  in  the  world.  The 
opposition  he  met  with  from  the  beginning  is  known  to  all  who 
are  acquainted  with  the  history  of  Christianity.  The  attempt 
of  Herod  to  kill  the  infant  Saviour  is  as  dishonorable  to  its 
author  as  it  is  criminal.  But  it  was  a  failure.  When  there 
was  such  an  inhuman  slaughter  of  infants  in  Judea,  the 
infant  Saviour  was  safe  in  Egypt.  At  another  time  the  peo- 
ple were  offended  at  his  teaching,  "and  rose  up,  and  thrust 
him  out  of  the  city,  and  led  him  unto  the  brow  of  the  hill 
whereon  the  city  was  built,  that  they  might  cast  him  down 
headlong.  But  he,  passing  through  the  midst  of  them,  went 
his  way."  Luke  4 :  29,  30.  Here  again  his  enemies  were 
foiled.  And  in  our  text  it  will  be  noted  there  is  a  statement 
to  the  effect  that  "the  Pharisees  went  out  and  held  a  coun- 
cil against  him,  how  they  might  destroy  him."  But  again 
the  Saviour  made  his  escape.  His  hour  had  not  yet  come. 
But  did  not  his  enemies  at  length  succeed  r  By  no  means. 
His  time  at  length  came  to  die.  And  his  enemies  killed 
him,  but  they  did  not  destroy  him  nor  his  cause.  He  came 
from  the  grave  stronger  than  ever.  The  hostile  spirit  of 
opposition  to  Christ  followed  the  apostles,  and  though  it 
killed  them,  the  cause  for  which  they  died  yet  lives,  endeared 
to  its  friends  by  the  struggles  through  which  it  has  come, 
and  by  the  accumulated  evidence  that  it  has  gathered 
around  it  proving  that  it  is  a  work  of  God  and  not  of  man. 

2.  The  second  aspect  under  which  we  may  look  at  the 
success  of  Christ  is  his  success  over  the  heart  of  the  sinner. 
There  is  often  a  great  struggle  in  the  soul  between  Satan 


400  SERMONS   OF 

and  Christ  for  the  victory.  But  Christ  has  always  proved 
victorious,  and  always  will  do  so,  if  the  sinner  perseveres. 
The  human  heart  is  desperately  wicked,  and  sometimes  will 
long  resist  the  attempts  of  Christ  to  enter,  but  if  the  sinner 
opens  the  door,  he  will  enter,  and  bind  the  strong  man,  or 
Satan,  and  cast  him  out.     Matt.  12  :  29. 

3.  The  last  aspect  under  which  we  should  look  at  the 
success  of  Christ,  is  his  final  victory  over  all  his  enemies, 
"for  he  must  reign  till  he  hath  put  all  enemies  under  his 
feet."  1  Cor.  15  :  25.  He  came  to  show  judgment  unto  the 
Gentiles,  or  to  establish  justice  and  righteousness  in  the 
earth.  And  that  his  principles  will  finally  prevail,  is  evi- 
dent from  the  following :  "  And  the  seventh  angel  sounded  : 
and  there  were  great  voices  in  heaven,  saying,  the  kingdoms 
of  this  world  are  become  the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord,  and  of 
his  Christ ;  and  he  shall  reign  forever  and  ever.  And  the 
four  and  twenty  elders,  which  sat  before  Go'd  on  their  seats, 
fell  upon  their  faces  and  worshiped  God,  saying,  we  give 
thee  thanks  O  Lord  God  Almighty,  which  art,  and  wast, 
and  art  to  come ;  because  thou  hast  taken  to  thee  thy  great 
power,  and  hast  reigned."     Rev.  11 :  15-17. 

We  close  our  subject  with  two  remarks.  The  text  closes 
with  the  words,  "  and  in  his  name  shall  the  Gentiles  trust." 
We  would  then  say,  1,  let  us  all  trust  in  Christ,  for  he  is 
worthy  of  our  confidence,  and  we  need  a  friend  like  him  to 
trust  in,  if  we  would  enjoy  the  happiness  of  conscious  safety. 
2.  In  our  work,  as  the  disciples  of  Christ,  in  co-operating 
with  him  in  showing  "judgment  to  the  Gentiles,"  or  in 
establishing  truth  and  righteousness  in  the  world,  let  us 
work  in  the  same  meek  and  unostentatious  manner,  as  none 
others  will  secure  equal  success. 


ELDEE  JAMES  QUINTER.  401 

XXXVIIl. 
AN  ADMONITION  TO  WATCHFULNESS. 

A    SERMON    FOR   THE    NEW   YEAR. 

"And  that,  knowing  the  time,  that  now  it  is  high  time  to 
awake  out  of  sleep;  for  now  is  our  salvation  nearer  than  we 
believed."     Rom.  13:11. 

The  time  has  suggested  our  text.  We  have  entered  a 
new  year.  We  are,  or  ought  to  be,  reminded  that  time  is 
passing,  and  the  remembrance  of  this  fact  should  prompt  us 
to  diligence  in  the  great  work  in  which  we  are  engaged,  for 
our  opportunities  for  useful  labor  diminish  as  time  advances. 
Our  subject  is  "An  Admonition  to  Watchfulness."  This 
seems  to  be  the  leading  thought  of  the  language  of  our  text. 

The  admonition  is  evidently  given  to  Christian  believers, 
for  one  of  the  reasons  given  for  watchfulness  is  the  fact 
that  their  salvation  is  said  to  be  nearer  than  when  they 
believed.  And  this  shows  that  believers  are  addressed. 
It  may  seem  a  little  strange  that  believers  are  addressed 
as  if  they  were  asleep.  Did  they  not  awake  at  the  time  of 
their  conversion  ?  A  similar  admonition  is  given  to  sinners  : 
"  Awake  thou  that  sleepest,  and  arise  from  tiie  dead,  and 
Christ  shall  give  thee  light."  Eph.  5:11.  That  such  an 
admonition  is  given  to  sinners  we  do  not  wonder ;  it  is 
appropriate  to  their  condition.  But  at  first  thought  it  may 
not  seem  so  appropriate  to  believers.  It  might  seem 
to  imply  that  they  had  fallen  asleep  again.  But  such 
a  reflection  would  not  be  honorable  to  the  Roman  breth- 
ren, and  therefore  we  will  look  for  another  meanins". 
We  will  not  suppose  that  the  Roman  brethren  had  gone 
back  "  to  the  weak  and  beggarly  elements"  (  Gal.  4 :  9 )  to 
which  they  had  been  in  bondage  before  their  conversion  to 
Christianity.  The  apostle's  admonition  does  not  require  us 
to  entertain  such  an  unkind  opinion  of  them.     The  trouble 


402  sfiRMONS  oi* 

with  them  was  not  that  they  had  gone  back  to  the  world.  It 
was  that  they  had  not  gone  on  far  enough  from  the  world  ; 
that  the  world  had  not  been  left  far  enough  behind,  con- 
sidering the  length  of  time  that  had  elapsed  since  the}^  left 
the  world  and  came  to  Christ.  This  is  the  case  more  or  less 
with  all  who  profess  the  Christian  faith.  This  probably  is 
the  case  with  us  who  are  here  to-day.  We  indulge  the  hope 
that  none  of  you  have  gone  back  again  to  the  world.  We 
would  say  as  Paul  said  to  his  Hebrew  brethren, "  but  beloved 
we  are  persuaded  better  things  of  you."  Heb.  6  :  9.  Never- 
theless, while  we  hope  better  things  of  you,  than  to  think 
any  of  you  have  gone  back  to  the  world,  we  think  it  is 
quite  likely  none  of  us  have  made  the  distance  in  the  divine 
life  that  we  might  have  made,  considering  the  time  we  have 
been  in  the  service  of  the  Lord,  and  the  favorable  circum- 
stances under  which  we  have  been  placed,  for  both  of  these 
should  be  taken  into  consideration  in  considering  the 
improvement  we  have  made.  It  is  to  be  expected  that  those 
who  have  been  in  the  service  of  the  Lord  for  years  will  be 
further  advanced  in  the  divine  life  than  those  who  have  but 
recently  entered  into  it.  And  then  the  circumstances  by 
which  we  have  been  surrounded  should  be  considered. 
For  instance,  we  have  thought  that  persons  coming  into 
the  church,  who  had  not  been  brought  up  among  the 
brethren  or  by  the  brethren,  but  under  the  influences 
and  example  of  fashionable,  worldly  people,  could  not  be 
expected  to  fall  into  the  order  of  the  brethren  in  all  things, 
as  in  the  order  of  plainness  of  dress,  as  readily  as  such  that 
have  been  brought  up  by  brethren  and  in  the  families  of 
brethren.  Such  have  not  only  failed  to  enjoy  the  teaching 
and  influence  of  the  brethren  upon  many  things,  but  the 
teaching  they  have  had  has  been  altogether  in  the  opposite 
direction.  These  may  require  more  time  to  see  the  pro- 
priety of  all  our  usages  than  those  of  our  own  families,  or 
who  have  lived  among  us. 


ELDER  JAMES  QUINTER.  403 

The  power  of  early  education,  of  habit  and  custom,  and 
the  attachment  of  people  to  their  first  religious  sentiments, 
made  much  trouble  in  the  churches  in  the  apostolic  age. 
This  will  be  plainly  seen  by  referring  to  some  of  the  episto- 
lary writings  of  the  apostles,  which  have  many  things  in 
them  designed  to  meet  those  troubles.  Such  troubles  were 
among  the  brethren  in  Rome  and  Corinth,  as  well  as  among 
those  of  other  localities.  Persons  who  had  been  brought 
up  in  idolatr}-^,  as  the  heathen  were,  found  it  more  or  less 
difiScult  to  separate  themselves  from  its  principles  and  prac- 
tice. 

We  present  our  thoughts  upon  the  text,  under  two  heads. 
First,  the  import  of  the  admonition  itself.  Second,  the  reason 
for  the  admonition. 

First,  the  admonition  itself :  "  It  is  high  time  to  awake 
out  of  sleep."  We  have  already  remarked  that  the  admo- 
nition is  given  unto  believers,  and  that  it  does  not  imply 
that  they  had  gone  back  to  the  world  or  that  they  had 
fallen  into  the  moral  slumbers  that  they  had  been  in  before 
their  conversion  to  Christianity.  But  while  this  is  so,  it 
plainly  implies  that  they  were  not  fully  awake,  or  that  they 
had  not  fully  recovered  from  the  sleep  that  they  had  been 
in  ;or,  if  they  had,  they  were  again  in  some  degree  under  the 
influence  of  sin,  and  were  not  as  wakeful  and  watchful  as 
they  should  be,  and  hence  the  necessity  of  the  admonition, 
"  it  is  high  time  to  awake  out  of  sleep."  What  is  sleep,  or 
what  moral  state  does  it  indicate  in  such  passages  as  our 
text  ?  It  implies  a  state  of  inactivity,  thoughtlessness,  ease, 
and  unconsciousness.  And  when  applied  to  sinners  it  means 
their  inexcusable  and  guilty  unconsciousness  and  ignorance 
of  the  danger  they  are  in.  The  building  may  be  on  fire  and 
the  inmates  being  sleep  are  altogether  ignorant  of  the  terri- 
ble danger  to  which  they  are  exposed.  So  it  is  with  people 
who  are  living  in  sin.     They  are  exposed  to  the  fire  of  God's 


4.04  SERMONS   OF 

wrath,  but  are  apparently  unconscious  of  it,  and  therefore 
easy  and  unconcerned.  As  the  admonition  is  more  directly 
addressed  to  believers,  we  must  understand  its  application  to 
such.  It  may  have  been  designed  by  the  aposlle  for  that 
class  of  believers,  of  which  there  are  some  in  every  organ- 
ized church,  and  of  which  there  have  been  some  in  every  age 
of  the  general  church,  namel}^  those  who  continue  to  be 
babes  instead  of  growing  to  Christian  manhood,  and  who 
are  tossed  about  by  every  wind  of  doctrine,  instead  of  being- 
established  in  the  principles  of  the  gospel.  The  admonition 
of  our  text,  "  it  is  high  time  to  awake  out  of  sleep,"  is 
very  appropriate  to  such,  and  the  believers  in  Rome  to  whom 
it  so  justly  applied  should  have  taken  it  unto  themselves, 
and  all  slothful  believers  of  this  and  every  age  of  thechurch 
should  do  the  same.  But  it  seems  to  be  designed  for  the 
bod}'^  of  believers  at  Rome,  and  there  is  a  sense  and  applica- 
tion of  it,  which,  we  think,  may  justly  be  made  to  all  Christ- 
ians whatever  may  be  their  attainments. 

In  the  parable  of  the  ten  virgins,  and  in  reference  to  the 
virgins,  it  is  said,  "  While  the  bridegroom  tarried,  they  all 
slumbered  and  slept."  Matt.  25 :  5.  Different  ideas  have 
been  suggested  as  to  the  meaning  of  this  language,  and  to 
reconcile  the  representation  of  the  virgins  in  their  slumber- 
ing and  sleeping  condition  with  the  condition  of  true  believ- 
ers. Lange  gives  the  following  reading  :  "  They  all  nodded, 
and  fell  asleep,"  instead  of  "  they  all  slumbered  and  slept." 
And  he  makes  these  remarks  in  connection  with  his  reading : 
"  An  intimation  of  weakness  indeed,  yet  expressing  the  great 
delay  of  the  bridegroom  rather  than  censure."  Alford  has 
the  following  remarks  upon  the  passage  concerning  the  con- 
dition of  the  virgins :  "  Being  weak  by  nature,  they  gave 
way  to  drowsiness ;  as,  indeed,  the  wakefulness  of  the  holiest 
Christian,  compared  with  what  it  should  be,  is  a  sort  of 
slumber."     Dr.  Seiss,  in  his  •'  Parable  of  the  Ten   Virgins,^- 


ELDER   JAMES   QUINTER.  405 

has  the  following :  "  The  essence  of  this  slumbering  and 
sleeping  I  am  disposed  to  find  in  a  certain  dulling  and  dead- 
ening of  the  church  to  the  specific  subject  of  the  bride- 
groom's coming."  The  last  writer  has  probably  touched  the 
true  idea.  Even  the  wise  virgins  were  not  fully  awake  to 
the  glory,  and  suddenness,  and  practical  effects  of  the  bride- 
groom's coming.  And  so  we  may  learn  that  even  the  faith- 
ful believers,  at  the  coming  of  our  Lord,  will  not  be  fully 
awake  to  all  the  practical  bearings  of  that  event  upon  the 
world.  And  it  was  probably  this  great  doctrine  of  our 
Lord's  second  and  personal  coming,  that  the  believers  at 
Rome  were  not  fully  awake  to,  and  hence  the  apostle's 
admonition,  "  And  that,  knowing  the  time,  that  now  it  is 
high  time  to  awake  out  of  sleep :  for  now  is  our  salvation 
nearer  than  we  believed."  The  context  favors  this  idea,  and 
especially  the  verse  following  our  text  :  "  The  night  is  far 
spent,  the  day  is  at  hand :  let  us,  therefore,  cast  off  the 
works  of  darkness,  and  let  us  put  on  the  armer  of  light." 
And  in  the  language  of  Alford,  already  quoted,  we  proba- 
bly may  justly  say,  "indeed  the  wakefulness  of  the  holiest 
Christian,  compared  with  what  it  should  be,  is  a  sort  of 
slumber."  That  is,  Christianity  in  its  doctrine,  in  its  facts, 
in  its  prophecies,  in  its  hopes  and  promises,  and  in  its 
terrible  threatenings,  and  in  its  everlasting  effects  upon  the 
destiny  of  men,  is  a  subject  of  such  transcendent  or  superior 
worth,  that  the  most  wakeful  and  enlightened  Christians 
have  not  grasped  it  in  all  its  moral  dimensions,  or  fully 
appreciated  it,  and  hence  the  propriety  of  the  admonition, 
"And  that,  knowing  the  time,  that  now  it  is  high  time  to 
awake  out  of  sleep :  for  now  is  our  salvation  nearer  than 
when  we  believed." 

Secondly,  The  reasons  for  the  admonition.  These  are 
two.  ( 1 )  The  nature  of  the  time  in  which  believers  were 
then  living.  (  2)  The  fact  that  their  salvation  was  nearer 
than  when  they  believed. 


406  SERMONS   OF 

( 1 )  The  nature  of  the  time  in  which  believers  were  then 
Uving.  "We  may  remark  in  regard  to  that  time,  that  it  was  a 
very  critical  time.  It  was  in  the  first  age  of  the  church.  It 
was  when  Christianity  must  be  established,  if  established  at 
all,  in  the  face  of  the  most  inveterate  and  formidable  opposi- 
tion. The  gospel  that  revealed  Christianity  was"  to  the  Jews 
a  stumbling  block,  and  to  the  Greeks  foolishness."  1  Cor.  1  : 
23.  Every  step  the  believers  took  in  their  aggressive  move- 
ments upon  the  enemy's  works  was  strongly  opposed,  and 
every  doctrine  promotive  of  holiness,  contradicted.  It  was 
then  ( a  )  a  time  of  trial  for  Christianity.  Indeed  Christ- 
ianity was  on  trial  before  the  world.  And  if  it  failed,  human- 
ity's last  hope  failed.  And  if  it  succeeded,  a  door  of  hope 
would  be  opened  to  the  sorrowing  and  troubled,  to  the 
guilty  and  lost  to  immortality  or  everlasting  life.  This  time 
therefore  to  believers  was  (  b)  a  very  responsible  time.  To 
them  was  entrusted  a  most  important  work.  The  apostle 
appreciated  the  position  of  believers  and  well  knew  that 
there  was  no  time  to  falter,  and  none  to  sleep,  and  hence  his 
admonition,  "it  is  high  time  to  awake  out  of  sleep."  ( c)  It 
was  also  a  time  chat  afforded  believers  an  excellent  oppor- 
tunity to  do  good  service  for  the  Lord,  And  many  of  them 
improved  the  time.  And  there  never  was  as  much  work  of 
a  spiritual  or  reformatory  character,  in  the  same  length  of 
time  done,  as  was  done  in  the  apostolic  age  of  the  Christian 
Church.  Notwithstanding  the  disadvantages  under  which 
the  early  Christian  workers  labored,  and  the  opposition  that 
they  had  to  contend  with,  their  success  was  great,  convei'ts 
and  churches  were  greatly  multiplied.  The  world  felt  and 
showed  the  effects  of  the  labor  of  the  faithful  servants  of 
God.  (d)  Finally,  the  early  Christian  believers  felt  that 
the  time  in  which  they  lived  was  the  last  time,  or  end  of 
the  age.  And  when  the  apostle  said,  in  the  language  of  our 
text,  "  And  that,  knowing  the  time,  that  now  it  is  high  time 


ELDER  JAMES   QUINTER.  407 

to  awake  out  of  sleep,"  he  probably  had  reference  to  the  time 
of  the  coming  of  the  Lord.  The  Saviour  after  he  had 
given  his  disciples  some  of  the  signs  which  were  to  precede 
his  coming,  said  unto  them,  "  Watch  therefore  ;  for  ye  know 
not  what  hour  your  Lord  doth  come.  But  know  this  that  if 
the  good  man  of  the  house  had  known  in  what  watch 
the  thief  would  come,  he  would  have  watched,  and  would 
not  have  suffered  his  house  to  be  broken  up.  Therefore  be 
ye  also  ready  ;  for  in  such  an  hour  as  ye  think  not  the  son 
of  man'coraeth."  Matt.  24 :  42-44.  Such  solemn  warning  hav- 
ing been  given  to  the  disciples  by  the  Saviour,  they  felt  the 
time  of  his  absence  was  very  uncertain,  and  that  his  coming 
might  be  very  near.  And  the  apostle  feeling  that  that  great 
event  might  be  near  at  hand,  he  admonished  his  Roman 
brethren  to  watchfulness,  and  said  "And  that,  knowing  the 
time,  that  now  it  is  high  time  to  awake  out  of  sleep."  He 
would  have  them  awake  and  ready  to  meet  their  Lord. 

2.  The  second  reason  that  the  apostle  gives  for  his 
admonition  to  his  brethren  to  urge  them  to  watchfulness  is 
the  fact  that  their  salvation  was  nearer  than  when  they  first 
believed.  And  as  they  were  approaching  the  consummation 
of  their  salvation,  and  the  time  when  they  would  receive  the 
prize,  the  apostle  would  have  them  to  watch  and  be  ready, 
for  if  they  would  sleep  and  fail  to  have  their  lamps  ready 
when  the  Bridegroom  comes,  they  would  not  be  received 
into  the  marriage,  but  be  left  out  in  the  dark. 

Our  salvation  may  be  represented  as  consisting  of  four 
stages.  The  first  is  that  stage  which  brings  us  into  Christ. 
"Now  is .  our  salvation  nearer  than  when  we  believed." 
The  beginning  of  salvation,  that  is  of  our  personal  salva- 
tion, or  of  the  salvation  within  us,  is  connected  with  our 
belief.  "He  that  believeth  and  is  b;iptized  shall  be  saved." 
Mark  16 :  16.  Thus  affirmed  our  Lord.  When  we  have 
"  repentance  toward  God,  and  faith  toward  our  Lord  Jesus 


408  SERMONS    OF 

Christ,"  Acts  20 :  21,  and  renounce  the  world,  and  put  on 
Christ  in  baptism,  Gal.  3  :  27,  and  thus  show  that  we  believe 
with  the  heart  unto  righteousness,  and  are  ready  with  the 
tongue  to  make  a  confession  unto  salvation,  Rom.  10  :  10, 
and  are  "  born  of  the  water  and  of  the  spirit,"  John  3  :  5, 
then  does  our  salvation  begin.  The  second  stage  of  our  sal- 
vation is  our  sanctification  by  the  truth,  John  17  :  17.  By  a 
sanctified  life  of  obedience  to  the  truth  after  our  baptism, 
we  become  more  separated  from  the  world,  and  more  assimi- 
lated to  the  divine  nature,  and  more  conformed  to  the  mind 
of  Christ,  and  thereby  our  salvation  becomes  nearer  to  us, 
or,  in  other  words,  we  are  brought  more  under  its  divine 
power.  The  third  stage  takes  place  -at  the  death  of  the 
believer.  This  is  a  very  important  event  in  the  history  of 
a  believer.  It  brings  the  spirit  of  the  believer  nearer  to  the 
Lord  than  it  was  in  the  "earthly  house  of  this  tabernacle." 
2  Cor.  5  : 1.  Hence  the  apostle  desired  to  depart  and  to  be 
with  Christ,  which  he  knew  would  be  better  than  to  remain 
in  the  world.  Phil.  1 :  23.  The  fourth,  or  last  stage  of  sal- 
vation, is  the  consummation  or  completion  of  salvation,  and 
consists  in  the  redemption  of  the  body  from  the  grave, 
the  reunion  of  the  body  and  spirit,  and  the  gloritication  of 
the  whole  being.  This  completion  of  the  work  of  salvation 
is  thus  referred  to  by  Paul:  "For  our  conversation  is  in 
heaven  ;  from  whence  also  we  look  for  the  Saviour,  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ :  who  shall  change  our  vile  body,  that  it  may 
be  fashioned  like  unto  his  own  glorious  body,  according  to 
the  working  whereby  he  is  able  even  to  subdue  all  things  to 
himself."  Phil.  3  :  20,  21.  Our  salvation  with  all  its  full- 
ness and  completeness  will  be  brought  near  and  be  given 
unto  us  when  our  Lord  shall  "  appear  the  second  time  with- 
out sin  unto  salvation."  Heb.  9  :  28.  He  will  appear,  when 
he  comes  the  second  time,  to  finish  what  he  commenced 
when  he  came  the  first  time. 


ELDER  JAMES   QUINTER.  409 

In  conclusion,  we  remark,  first,  that  all  the  reasons  there 
were  to  urge  the  believers  at  Rome  to  watchfulness  still 
exist  to  a  considerable  degree  to  urge  us  to  watchfulness. 
And  let  us  not  fail  to  be  watchful  and  diligent,  that  when  the 
Lord  comes  to  complete  his  salvation  in  his  people  we  may 
be  found  among  them.  Secondly.  What  a  happy  and  most 
desirable  condition  are  believers,  according  to  our  text,  rep- 
resented as  occupying!  They  are  approaching  the  consum- 
mation of  their  salvation.  Every  year,  and  even  every  day, 
brinofs  their  salvation  with  all  its  fullness  nearer  to  them. 
Our  salvation  in  this  sense  is  nearer  than  it  was  a  year  ago. 
And  if  we  live  to  see  the  year  1882,  it  will  be  nearer  than  it 
is  at  the  beginning  of  1881.  And  if  we  die  before  the  year 
closes,  in  a  certain  sense,  it  will  be  nearer  than  if  we  live. 
This  view  of  the  future  connects  it  with  much  that  is  desir- 
able. How  different  it  is  with  the  unconverted!  The  long, 
dark  night  of  death  is  still  coming  nearer  to  them,  and  with 
death  the  judgment,  and  with  these  their  terrible  doom. 
We  would  say  to  all,  to  both  saints  and  sinners,  "  it  is  time 
to  awake  out  of  sleep,"  for  there  are  events  great  with  import- 
ance before  us. 


XXXIX. 
THE  WORK  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

PART  I. 

"And  of  some  have  compassion,  making  a  difference: 
and  others  save  with  fear,  pulling  them  out  of  the  fire;  hat- 
ing even  the  garment  spotted  b}'^  the  flesh."     Jude  1 :  22-23. 

There  were  unfaithful  believers  in  that  day  in  the 
Church.  There  were  men  and  women  who  had  embraced 
Christianity  from  improper  motives,  and  had  not  moral 
courage  and  a  sufficiency  of  self-denial  to  encounter  the 


410  SERMONS   OF 

opposition  which  they  had  to  contend  with,  and  conse- 
quently they  proved  unfaithful  to  the  holy  principles  that 
they  had  pledged  themselves  to  observe.  Our  text  has  special 
reference  to  the  recovery  of  these  unfaithful  members  from 
their  apostacy. 

While  the  apostle  admonishes  his  brethren  to  labor  for 
the  recovery  of  these  unfaithful  members,  that  admonition 
is  equally  applicable  to  us,  as  a  Churcii,  to  labor  for  the 
conversion  of  all  who  need  it,  and  not  only  for  the  recovery 
of  the  luke-warm  and  back-sliding  members  of  the  church. 
We  are  to  labor  to  restore  all  such  to  holiness  and  righteous- 
ness and  to  the  favor  of  God. 

There  are  ihree  points  that  I  will  open  as  fully  as  my 
time  will  permit  me  to  do.  First,  the  imminent  danger  to 
which  sinners  are  exposed.  The  expression,  "pulling  them 
out  of  the  fire,"  implies  that  they  were  in  the  fii'e.  If  these 
fallen  members  of  the  Christian  church  are  in  the  fire, 
because  they  are  in  sin,  then  all  persons  who  are  in  sin  are 
in  the  fire.  Hence,  I  make  the  general  statement  that  the 
text  shows  the  imminent  danger  that  men  and  women  are 
in,  when  they  are  in  sin.  Secondly.  The  work  of  the 
church  in  "  pulling  them  out  of  the  fire,"  and  in  recovering 
them  from  their  lost  condition,  and  in  restoring  them  to 
God.  Thirdly.  Some  suggestions  relating  to  the  manner 
in  which  the  church  is  to  work.  "  Of  some  have  compassion, 
making  a  difference :  and  others  save  with  fear;  pulling  them 
out  of  the  fire,  hating  even  the  garment  spotted  by  the  flesh," 

First,  the  imminent  danger  of  the  sinner.  In  the  text 
sin  is  compared  to  a  fire.  There  are  several  Scriptures  that 
present  this  view  of  sin.  I  will  notice  one.  That  will  be 
enough  to  sustain  the  position  which  I  take.  I  call  your 
attention  to  Isaiah  9:18:  "  For  wickedness  burneth  like  a 
fire:  it  shall  devour  the  briers  and  thorns,  and  shall  kindle 
in  the  thickets  of  the  forest ;   and  they  shall  mount  up  like 


ELJJER    JAMES    QUINTER.  411 

lie  lilLing  up  of  smoke."  Wickedness  burned  where  this 
church  existed,  and  because  these  persons  did  not  watch  and 
pray,  they  fell  into  the  fire  of  sin,  as  a  little  child  falls  into 
the  fire  if  not  watched  carefully.  These  men  and  women 
were  in  the  fire  of  sin,  and  it  was  burning  them  up.  Their 
Christian  friends  were  to  pull  them  out,  lest  the  fire  should 
burn  them  up  and  destroy  them.  Sin  is  a  fire.  I  purpose 
to  notice  some  of  the  points  of  similarity  and  resemblance 
which  exist  between  sin  and  a  fire.  The  first  point  of 
similarit}'^  is  in  their  diffusibility  or  spreading  nature.  They 
both  spread  very  fast.  You  know  how  rapidly  fire  spreads 
through  the  material  which  is  burning.  It  spreads  with 
frightful  rapidity.  The  progress  of  the  flames  is  onward 
and  it  consumes  every  thing  in  its  way.  How  rapidly  it 
will  go !  How  soon  it  will  extend  over  squares,  and  reach 
points  at  a  considerable  distance  from  the  point  at  which  it 
started.  This  spreading  tendency  of  fire  is  known  by  all. 
And  how  is  it  with  sin  ?  Precisely  the  same  thing  is  ob- 
served. It  has  the  same  spreading  character.  Knowing 
this,  we  can  see  why  there  are  so  many  and  such  great 
sinners  in  the  world.  Sin  spreads.  There  was  a  time  when 
the  worst  men  living  were  men  of  innocent  character. 
Men,  whose  crimes  are  so  great  that  they  can  hardly  be 
mentioned  in  good  society,  were  once  innocent  babes,  as 
innocent  as  any  child  in  the  room.  But  when  they  came  to 
the  age  of  maturity  and  accountability,  instead  of  pursuing 
the  paths  of  rectitude,  they  fell  into  the  fire  of  sin,  and  it 
has  spread  over  them  until  they  are  now  addicted  to  drunk- 
enness and  licentiousness  and  many  evils.  It  is  from  the 
spreading  tendency  of  sin  that  it  is  likened  to  fire.  We 
know  by  observation  that  it  is  so. 

We  all  remember  some  of  our  feelings  in  childhood — our 
first  remorse  of  conscience  at  having  broken  some  of  our 
parents'  commands.    We  perhaps  can  remember  our  first  feel- 


412  SERMONS    OF 

ings  when  we  disooej^ed  God's  demands.  "When  we  grew  older 
there  was  less  remorse  even  when  we  broke  greater  commands. 
The  spreading  tendency  of  sin  should  be  guarded  against. 
I  want  to  say  to  you,  who  are  indulging  in  any  sin,  however 
small,  that  you  are  unsafe.  I  would  say  to  the  Christian 
that  we  should  make  a  practical  application  of  this  principle 
to  ourselves.  If  we  are  indulging  in  any  sin,  no  matter  how 
small  it  may  be,  we  are  unsafe.  That  one  little  sin  will 
beget  another,  and  the  two  will  beget  a  third.  Like  a  fire 
it  will  run,  and  eventually  it  will  bring  about  our  expulsion 
from  the  church,  unless  we  die  without  our  sins  being  exposed. 
In  this  case,  however,  we  will  be  found  guilty  in  the  eyes  of 
God,  for  he  know^sall  things. 

My  unconverted  friends,  although  you  are  not  in  the 
advanced  stages  of  sin,  yet  you  are  unsafe  while  you  are 
indulging  in  any  sin.  It  is  like  fire,  and  it  will  burn.  Young 
men  and  women,  you  had  much  better  quench  the  fire  of  sin 
while  it  is  in  its  first  stage.  Sin  will  obtain  a  greater  influ- 
ence over  you  from  time  to  time,  and  after  awhile  it  will 
assume  that  ugly  character  which  perhaps  3'ou  can  not  now 
bear  to  think  that  it  ever  will. 

Our  second  point  of  comparison  will  be  the  transforming 
power  of  sin.  Fire,  in  consuming  combustible  matter,  turns 
everything  into  its  own  character.  It  matters  not  what  it 
is,  everything  is  mixed  up.  The  flames  transform  every- 
thino-  into  their  own  destructive  element.  So  it  is  with  sin. 
The  apostle  Paul  says :  "  Cnto  the  pure  all  things  are  pure : 
but  unto  them  that  are  defiled  and  unbelieving  is  nothing 
pure  ;  but  even  their  mind  and  conscience  is  defiled."  Titus 
1:15,  To  the  sinful  person  everything  is  more  or  less  im- 
pure. Sin  is  just  the  opposite  of  holiness.  While  sin  trans- 
forms everything  into  its  own  evil  character,  holiness  trans- 
forms everything  into  its  beautiful  and  glorious  character. 
If  we  become  holy  men  and  live  out  our  principles  in  our 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTER.  413 

lives,  holiness  will  transform  us  into  its  character.  All  men 
and  women  who  are  trying  to  do  this  are  becoming  more 
and  more  assimilated  to  the  pure  and  holy  character  of 
God.  There  is  a  transforming  power,  in  .holiness.  If  we 
have  the  root  of  holiness  planted  in  the  heart;  if  we  culti- 
vate holiness  as  we  grow  older,  we  will  become  more  and 
more  assimilated  to  God.  The  more  we  associate  with  holy 
companions,  and  practice  holy  principles,  the  more  we  will 
acquire  holiness  of  character.  There  will  also  be  the  same 
assimilation  if  we  live  with  evil  associates.  The  more  we 
live  in  sin,  the  more  we  will  become  assimilated  to  it.  This 
is  a  solemn  truth.  From  this  we  see  the  necessity  of  choos- 
ing the  ways  of  the  Lord,  and  of  walking  therein  if  we 
would  be  holy. 

The  third  point  in  comparison  between  these  two 
elements,  the  element  of  fire  and  the  element  of  sin,  is  seen 
in  the  power  of  the  two.  You  know  something  of  the 
power  of  sin.  You  also  know  the  power  of  fire.  You 
know  that  it  is  said,  "  Fire  is  a  very  good  servant,  but 
a  very  bad  master."  When  it  once  seizes  upon  combustible 
material,  how  diflBcult  it  is  to  control!  The  great  fires 
in  Philadelphia,  Pittsburgh,  and  New  York  stm:'ted 
from  small  beginnings.  You  know  of  the  great  fire  in  Lon- 
don ;  you  have  heard  of  it  through  history.  Many  of  you 
can  remember  the  great  fire  in  Chicago.  It  commenced 
very  small,  but  grew  until  it  became  so  large  that  thousands 
and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  people  were  compelled  to  fly 
for  their  lives.  Onward  and  onward  it  went  in  its  powerful 
course  of  destruction.  If  some  one  had  poured  water  upon 
it  when  it  started,  it  could  have  been  stopped.  But  it  soon 
assumed  such  a  powerful  force  and  gigantic  magnitude  that 
it  defied  the  power  which  was  brought  against  it  to  stop  it. 
Sin  is  powerful.  It  is  a  powerful  master  when  once  it  gets 
the  mastery  over  us.     It  is  strong.     When  once  it  gets  con- 


414  SERMONS  OV 

trol,  how  difficult  it  is  to  subdue.  How  hard  it  is  for  old 
sinners  to  give  up  sinning,  to  break  away  from  their  sins. 

We  have  a  powerful  illustration  of  this.  It  is  only  one  of 
the  many  manifestations  of  sin.  There  are  many  similar 
manifestations  of  its  power;  but  as  this  is  one  of  the  most 
common,  I  use  it.  I  refer  to  the  sin  of  drunkenness.  When 
a  man  has  become  a  confirmed  drunkard,  how  difficult  it  is 
for  him  to  change  his  course  of  life.  I  have  several  cases 
before  my  mind  as  distinctly  as  your  faces  come  up  before 
me  now,  of  men  who  have  tried  for  weeks  and  months  to 
overcome  this  habit.  They  meet  an  old  companion  and  are 
asked  to  take  a  glass  of  liquor.  Then  the  power  of  the  old 
habit  comes  over  them,  and  in  many  cases  they  fall.  I  do 
not  say  that  it  is  impossible  for  a  drunkard  to  reform,  but  I 
tell  you  that  it  is  difficult.  Hence,  we  admonish  our  young 
men  to  abstain  from  even  a  temperate  use  of  intoxicating 
drink.  Do  not  use  any  beer.  Here  may  be  the  start  of  a 
habit  that  you  may  have  great  trouble  to  overcome.  The 
power  of  sin  is  so  great  that  we  do  not  want  to  let  it  get 
any  hold  upon  us. 

Young  men  and  women,  there  are  many  old  sinners  that 
if  they  could  turn  away  from  their  sins  as  easily  and  as 
readily  as  you  can  turn  from  yours,  they  would  do  it  at 
once.  If  they  could  do  it  as  easily  they  would  be  glad  to 
do  it.  The  reason  why  they  do  not  turn  is,  because  it  is  so 
difficult  for  them  to  stop  sinning.  Because  they  can  not  do 
it  easily,  they  are  not  doing  it  at  all.  As  in  the  case  of  the 
drunkard  I  have  several  persons  in  my  mind.  They  have 
long  been  going  to  meeting.  They  have  considerable  regard 
for  the  truth.  They  pay  attention  to  the  preachmg.  They 
would  like  to  be  members  of  the  Christian  community. 
They  would  like  to  share  the  joys  which  they  see  that  we 
have.  But  they  have  settled  down  in  their  habits.  These 
are  fixed  upon  them.     These  habits  have  grown  with  their 


ELDER  JAMES  QDtNTER.  415 

growth  and  strengthened  with  their  age.  They  may  yet 
come,  and  they  may  never  come  to  Christ.  The  reason  why 
they  will  not  come  is  because  sin  lias  burned  so  long  that  it 
has  a  great  control  over  them.  They  are  under  the  power 
of  sin  so  much  that  they  lack  energy  to  leave  it  and  all  its 
discomforts,  and  accept  holiness  with  all  its  joys.  I  am 
afraid  that  death  will  find  them  just  whefe  they  are  now. 

These  two  elements  are  similar  with  respect  to  the 
effect  which  they  produce.  The  effects  of  fire  upon  us 
are  extremely  painful.  To  burn  the  hand  or  the 
finger  only  a  little,  to  burn  ourselves  but  slightly,  is 
very  painful.  The  slightest  burn  causes  a  great  deal  of  pain 
to  us.  You  know  the  pain  producing  tendency  of  fire  upon 
man's  body.  You  all  know  that  it  is  very  painful.  And, 
how  is  it  with  sin  ?  It  is  sin,  and  sin  alone,  that  has  pro- 
duced all  the  pam  that  is  in  the  world. 

Let  me  call  your  attention  to  the  remark  made  by  the 
apostle  Paul,  with  reference  to  this  point.  He  says  in  the 
22d  verse  of  the  8th  chapter  of  Eomans  :  "  For  we  know 
that  the  whole  creation  groaneth  and  travaileth  in  pain 
together  until  now."  The  groaning  and  travailing  of  creation 
in  pain  is  owing  to  the  effect  of  sin.  It  is  affecting  the 
whole  creation.  It  is  affecting  universal  humanity.  It  is 
affecting  even  the  animal  creation.  You  do  not  yet  feel  the 
terrible  shock.  It  has  not  reached  all  of  us  yet  in  its  worst 
effects.  You  have  not  yet  fully  experienced  its  painful 
consequences.  What  groaning  is  going  on  around  us !  You 
are  in  health,  but  how  many  invalids  are  upon  their  beds 
suffering  with  pain.  Some  disease  is  preying  upon  their 
system,' robbing  them  of  sweet  sleep  and  rest.  You  have 
plenty  upon  Avhich  to  subsist,  but  in  how  many  hovels  of 
the  poor  there  is  groaning  and  wishing  for  bread  !  How 
much  misery  arises  from  that  source.  Yon  can  also  see  the 
effect  of  sin  in  our  penitentiaries  and  prisons,  w^here  the 


416  SERMONS    OF 

guilty  are  found  wishing  for  their  liberty,  and  the  enjoy- 
ments of  their  old  associates  of  better  days.  You  can  sup- 
ply from  your  knowledge  many  instances  of  the  kind  to 
which  I  have  referred.  The  whole  creation  groans  and 
sighs  with  pain  of  some  kind  or  other.  Why  is  this  ?  Be- 
cause the  fire  of  sin  is  at  work.  It  is  burning  many  up.  It 
is  burning  out  what  innocency  there  is  left  in  humanity. 
It  is  affecting  all  in  some  way  or  other.  There  is  not  a  sin 
but  what  is  followed  by  pain.  That  is  not  the  worst. 
This  pain  will  be  everlasting.  "And  the  fifth  angel  poured 
out  his  vial  upon  the  seat  of  the  beast:  and  his  kingdom 
was  full  of  darkness,  and  they  gnawed  their  tongues  for 
pain,  and  blasphemed  the  God  of  heaven  because  of  their 
pains  and  sores,  and  repented  not  of  their  deeds." — Rev. 
16  :  10, 11.  Whatever  mystery  there  may  be  about  this,  what- 
ever difficulty  there  may  be  to  fix  the  time  of  the  fulfill- 
ment of  the  prophecy,  it  shows,  my  friends,  the  effects  of 
sin  in  producing  intense  misery.  It  will  be  fulfilled  some 
time  or  other,  and  the  ungodly  will  experience  it.  The 
terrible  event  referred  to  will  come  to  pass.  The  judgments 
of  God  against  sin  will  some  day  be  visited  upon  them  that 
are  in  fellowship  with  the  power  of  darkness.  These 
threatened  judgments  show  us  what  a  terrible  time  is  com- 
ing upon  the  wicked.  But  there  is  a  way  of  escape.  If  we 
take  timely  warning  we  may  escape  as  Lot  did  from  Sodom, 
which  was  consumed  with  fire  from  heaven.  Sin  is  God's 
enem}^  and  it  is  a  strong  one,  but  he  will  overcome  it  and 
those  who  will  adhere  to  it  must  experience  an  overthrow. 
So  we  had  much  better  part  with  sin,  for  by  so  doing  we 
may  save  ourselves,  whereas  if  we  hold  on  to  it  we  must 
perish.  "  For  wickedness  burneth  as  the  fire  :  it  shall  devour 
the  briers  and  thorns,  and  shall  kindle  in  the  thickets  of  the 
forests,  and  they  shall  mount  up  like  smoke.  Through  the 
wrath  of  the  Lord  of  hosts  is  the  land  darkened  and  the 


ELDER    JAMES    QDINTER.  417 

people  shall  be  as  the  fuel  of  the  fire :  no  man  shall  spare 
his  brother.  And  he  shall  snatch  on  the  right  hand,  and  be 
hungry  :  and  he  shall  eat  on  the  left  hand,  and  shall  not  be 
satisfied  :  they  shall  eat  every  man  the  flesh  of  his  own  arm  : 
Manasseth,  Ephi-aim  ;  and  Ephraira,  Manasseth :  and  they 
together  shall  be  against  Judah.  For  all  this  his  anger  is 
not  turned  away,  but  his  hand  is  stretched  out  still."  Isaiah 
9:18-21. 

Such  being  the  danger  to  which  ungodly  professors  and 
sinners  are  exposed,  they  should  surely  become  alarmed  and 
make  their  escape  from  the  burning  house  before  it  is  con- 
sumed, and  before  they  are  consumed  with  it.  With  what 
willingness  and  gladness  would  the  inmates  of  a  house  be 
rescued  from  the  devouring  flames,  if  escape  was  possible, 
and  if  help  should  be  offered  them,  if  the  house  was  on  fire ! 
How  much  more  willing  and  anxious  should  those  burning 
in  sin  be  to  be  saved  from  their  perilous  position !  This 
can  yet  be  done. 

Remember  that  sin  is  fire,  and  that  it  will  burn  us  up  if 
we  are  in  it.  "Escape  for  thy  life;  look  not  behind  thee, 
neither  stay  thou  in  all  the  plain  ;  escape  to  the  mountain, 
lest  thou  be  consumed.'"  Gen.  19  :  17.  The  mountain  of 
safetv  is  Christ. 


XL. 
THE  WORK  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

PART  II. 

"  And  of  some  have  compassion,  making  a  difference : 
and  others  gave  with  fear,  pulling  them  out  of  the  fire,  hating 
even  the  garment  spotted  by  the  flesh."— Jude  1 :  22,  23. 

Our  subject  will  be  the  work  of  the  Church  in  saving 
sinners,  which  is  stated  in  the  text  to  consist  in  pulling  them 


418 


SERMONS    OF 


out  of  the  fire.  This  was  addressed  to  the  members  of  the 
Church  for  the  purpose  of  teUing  them  how  the  fallen  mem- 
bers might  be  saved.  This  is  alluded  to  in  that  part  of  Jude 
where  these  fallen  members  are  called  spots  in  their  love- 
feasts  or  feasts  of  charity.  While  our  subject  has  direct 
reference  t(j  the  fallen  members  of  the  Church,  it  may  be 
used  in  reference  to  all  sinners.  They  are  in  the  same  con- 
dition whether  they  are  in  the  Church  or  not. 

Conceive  a  building  to  be  on  fire.  It  is  wrapt  in  flames. 
The  building  is  in  itself  valuable  for  its  excellence ;  for  its 
beauty  of  architectural  appearance  and  surroundings.  It  is 
a  very  valuable  building.  It  is  not  only  so  in  itself,  but 
within  it  is  costly  furniture.  It  is  on  fire.  And  suppose  in 
addition  to  the  building  itself  and  its  valuable  contents,  that 
there  are  human  beings  in  it.  Perhaps  they  were  asleep  and 
only  awoke  to  find  themselv^es  enveloped  in  smoke  and  flame. 
Every  outlet  of  escape  from  the  building  is  closed  up.  They 
are  in  danger  of  being  consumed  in  the  burning  building. 
Those  who  are  outside  of  the  building  are  now  trying  to  save 
the  inmates  of  the  building. 

See  the  noble  firemen  laboring  to  overcome  the  flame. 
The  men  are  trying  to  save  the  building  and  the  persons 
who  will  be  burned  in  the  flames  by  which  they  are  envel- 
oped unless  they  are  taken  out.  See  them  working,  risking 
their  own  lives  to  save  the  lives  and  property  of  others. 
They  are  all  around  the  burning  building  trying  to  subdue 
the  flames.  Look  at  the  labor  and  concern  with  which  they 
work ! 

We  should  put  forth  the  same  labor  in  the  cause  in  which 
we  are  engaged.  What  the  firemen  did  in  my  illustration 
should  be  the  labors  of  the  Christian  Church.  The  labor  of 
the  firemen  in  trying  to  save  the  persons  in  the  building 
should  be  the  labor  of  the  Church  in  pulling  souls  out  of  sin. 
The  sinner  is  enveloped  in  the  fire  of  sin.     He  will  realize 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTER.  419 

terrible  ruin  and  eternal  loss  if  not  saved.  That  is  the  idea; 
"And  of  some  have  compassion,  making  a  difference:  others 
save  with  fear,  pulling  them  out  of  the  fire."  We  should 
be  trying  to  save  and  to  get  them  out  of  the  flames  which 
are  around  them,  and  which  will  burn  them  up  if  they  do 
not  make  their  escape. 

We  should  have  all  the  intense  anxiety  and  all  the  self- 
denial,  and  should  use  all  the  mighty  labors  which  these 
firemen  put  forth  to  save  the  persons  in  the  burning  house. 
We  should  do  this  to  save  our  fellow-men  from  the  flames  of 
sin.  The  dangers  of  our  fellow-creatures  who  are  in  sin  are 
more  imminent  than  the  dangers  of  those  who  are  in  that 
house. 

It  is  the  work  of  the  Church  to  pull  sinners  out  of  the 
fire  of  sin.  It  is  to  be  one  of  the  purposes  of  the  Church. 
Shall  I  say  that  it  is  heaven's  design  of  the  Church  ?  I  think 
it  was  one  of  heaven's  designs  in  organizing  the  Church.  I 
might  say  that  there  are  two  designs  of  the  Church.  One 
design  is  the  benefit  of^  the  members  of  the  Church.  We 
are  organized  together  that  we  may  be  a  help  to  one  another, 
that  we  may  perform  the  duties  growing  out  of  a  social  rela- 
tion to  one  another ;  that  we  may  aid  one  another  in  religion 
as  we  help  one  another  in  business,  and  in  all  the  domestic 
relations  in  which  we  stand  to  one  another.  Men  have 
organized  themselves  together  into  societies  that  they  may 
mutually  help  one  another;  so  we  are  organized  together  in 
the  Church.  We  are  united  together  in  the  Church  that  we 
may  help  one  another,  sympathize  with  one  another,  hold  up 
one  another  when  we  re  pressed  down  with  burdens.  We 
are  to  strengthen  one  another  so  that  we  may  become  strong. 

That  is  an  erroneous  idea  that  some  have,  that  we  can  be 
as  good  out  of  the  church  as  we  can  be  in  it.  This  is  a 
wrong  idea.  As  a  general  rule,  can  children  do  as  well  if 
they  lose  their  parents  and  are  turned  out  into  the  world 


420  SEEMONS   OF 

without  father  and  mother?  "Will  these  children  be  as  good 
and  grow  up  as  well  grounded  in  the  principles  of  right  as 
those  who  have  been  brought  up  under  parental  influences 
and  had  proper  surroundings?  The  Church  is  a  kind  of 
parent  to  Christians,  especially  to  young  converts.  And  is 
a  widow  as  able  as  a  woman  who  has  a  husband  to  get 
along  in  the  world?  One  of  the  great  principles  upon  which 
the  family  is  based  is  mutual  sympathy.  This  is  an  import- 
ant principle  in  the  Church.  Do  not  do  away  with  the 
Church  then  by  any  means.  You  may.  as  well  do  away 
with  the  idea  of  the  family  and  fall  into  the  terrible  doctrine 
of  free  love  which  has  found  many  advocates  in  the  world, 
but  thank  God  is  not  now  on  the  advance.  You  mis^ht  as 
well  talk  about  the  propriety  and  utility  of  the  family  as 
about  the  propriety  of  the  Church.  Heaven  has  ordained 
both  the  familv  and  the  Church,  These  are  both  organiza- 
tions  which  have  been  given  us  by  heaven.  The  propriety, 
utility  and  necessity  of  both,  have  been  recognized  by 
heaven.     Both  of  these  must  remain. 

Heaven  has  organized  the  Church  and  ordained  the 
ordinances  belono^ino^  to  the  Church.  The  ordinances  of  the 
Church  are  of  great  use.    These  must  be  used  by  the  Church. 

Another  design  to  the  organization  of  the  Christian 
Church  is,  that  by  it  the  truth  may  be  preserved  and  circu- 
lated. The  persons  outside  of  the  Church  are  to  be  brought 
under  the  influence  of  truth  and  realize  the  saving  powers  of 
it.  We  have  the  following  Scriptural  declaration:  "The 
Church  is  the  pillar  and  ground  of  the  truth."  1  Tim.  3:15. 
What  a  responsibility  rests  upon  the  Church  !  We  are  the 
pillar  and  ground  of  the  truth.  This  means  the  Church  is 
the  depository  of  Christian  truth.  We  are  to  take  care  of 
that  gift  of  heaven — the  truth.  We  are  the  protectors  of  it. 
We  are  to  keep  it  in  its  purity.  We  are  to  show  its  divine 
influence  in  our  lives  before  the  world.     We  are  to  hand 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTER.  421 

that  truth  down  to  our  successors  tliat  they  may  keep  it  as 
we  have  kept  it.  One  generation  is  to  hand  that  truth  to 
others,  and  thus  it  is  to  be  perpetuated.  We  are  to  sustain 
it ;  we  are  to  love  it ;  we  are  to  keep  it ;  we  are  to  live  it. 
"Beloved,  when  I  gave  all  diligence  to  write  unto  you  of 
the  common  salvation,  it  was  needful  for  me  to  write  unto 
you,  and  exhort  you  that  ye  should  earnestly  contend  for  the 
faith  once  delivered  unto  the  saints."  This  is  the  language 
of  the  apostle  Jude.  We  are  to  hand  down  the  faith  in  the 
way  in  which  we  have  received  it  from  Christ  and  the 
apostles.  We  are  to  labor  to  maintain  the  faith  of  the 
primitive  Church. 

It  is  the  old  faith  we  are  to  contend  for  and  keep.  On 
the  apostolic  system  of  Christian  faith  and  truth  no  improve- 
ment can  be  made.  Any  change  from  the  apostolic  order 
should  be  guarded  against.  We  are  to  find  new  enjoyments 
and  new  beauties  in  the  truth,  and  are  to  make  new  appli- 
cations of  it  as  occasions  may  require;  but  the  truth  must 
stand  unchanged.  We  are  to  keep  it  for  the  coming  genera- 
tions of  the  people  of  God.  The  Church  then  has  a  work 
to  perform,  besides  simply  promoting  our  own  enjoy- 
ment. Do  not  forget  that.  One  object  is  the  promotion 
of  ^  our  own  spiritual  enjoyment  and  our  advancement 
in  the  divine  life.  But,  my  brethren  and  sisters,  there 
is  something  else  besides  this  to  do.  Do  not  forget  that  we 
have  another  duty  to  perform.  Do  not  forget  that  there 
may  be  persons  in  our  own  families  who  are  in  the  flames  of 
sin.  Do  not  forget  that  many  men  and  women  are  living 
in  sin.  They  are  like  the  individuals  to  whom  I  alluded  in 
my  illustration.  They  are  surrounded  by  the  flames  of  sin, 
and  unless  they  are  rescued  they  will  meet  a  terrible  end. 
When  you  pray,  remember  them  in  prayer.  Eemember  to 
pray  for  the  minister  who  is  preaching  to  them.  Pray  for 
the  success  of  the  efforts  which  are  being  put  forth  to  pull 
the  sinners  out  of  the  fire. 


422  SERMONS    OF 

We  are  intrusted  with  the  great  work  of  saving  those 
who  are  represented  as  being  in  the  flames.  It  is  the  busi- 
ness of  the  Church  to  pull  them  out.  How  poorly  we  are 
performing  it !  How  little  does  our  religious  labor  resemble 
that  of  the  daring  and  working  firemen,  who  are  laboring 
to  save  the  natural  lives  of  men  and  worldly  property !  We 
have  a  greater  object  in  view.  Our  work  is  to  save  the  soul, 
the  entire  man  or  woman.  If  they  are  lost  there  will  be 
universal  loss.  Said  Jesus  to  the  disciples  when  they  began 
to  show  signs  of  fear,  "  Fear  not  them  which  kill  the  body, 
but  are  not  able  to  kill  the  soul,  but  rather  fear  him  which 
is  able  to  destroy  both  soul  and  body  in  hell "  (Matt.  10 :  28). 
Soul  lost ;  body  lost ;  all  lost.  We  are  to  labor  for  the 
redemption  of  those  who  are  in  the  flames.  Well  we  may 
labor. 

What  is  the  Church  ?  The  Church  is  part  of  the  body  of 
Christ.  In  speaking  of  the  members  of  the  Christian  Church, 
Paul  says :  "  We  are  members  of  his  body,  of  his  flesh,  and 
of  his  bones."  Eph.  5  :  30.  We  are  members  of  Christ,  and 
should  be  like  him.  Did  he  not  try  to  save  sinners  from  the 
flames?  He  rushed  into  the  burning  flames  to  save  them. 
He  was  himself  consumed  in  a  certain  sense.  He  died  that 
he  might  rescue  the  whole  human  race.  He  arose  from  the 
grave  and  triumphed  over  death.  He  did  this  that  he  might 
rescue  the  souls  of  men  from  the  danger  to  which  they  are 
exposed.  "  Ye  are  all  members  of  his  body,  of  his  flesh,  and 
of  his  bones."  Where  is  our  sympathy  for  him  in  his  work  ? 
Where  is  our  likeness  to  him  in  our  efforts  ?  Should  we  not 
be  more  or  less  like  him  in  our  labors?     Surely  we  ought. 

Whatever  benevolence  and  philanthropy  there  is  among 
unconverted  men  and  women,  their  philanthropy  will  be 
greatly  increased  when  they  become  Christians.  When  we 
possess  the  mind  and  spirit  of  Christ  our  benevolence  will  be 
broader,  and  our  philanthropy  will  be  deeper.     Our  self- 


ELDER   JAMES    QUINTKR.  ,  423 

denial  should  be  more  manifest  than  that  of  those  who  are 
not  Christians.  The  most  efficient  philanthropists  are  among 
the  Christians. 

In  this  age  there  is  a  good  deal  of  infidelity  growing  up. 
You  have  heard  of  Robert  Ingersoll,  the  infidel  lecturer. 
You  have  heard  of  the  unfair  representations  which  he 
makes  of  the  Bible  and  of  men  of  piety.  A  reporter  of  the 
New  York  Witness  has  lately  interviewed  Hon.  G.  R.  Wend- 
ling,  who  has  been  lecturing  in  the  JS^orthern  States  in  oppo- 
sition to  Ingersoll.  He  says,  according  to  the  Christian 
Cynosure,  from  which  we  quote :  "  The  clergy  constitute 
the  most  human  and  self-sacrificing  class  of  men  to  be  found 
on  earth  to-day.  I  have  been,  in  the  last  year,  in  nearly 
every  Northern  State,  from  Maine  to  Nebraska,  and  every- 
where the  clergy  are  doing  the  most  for  humanity,  not  only 
in  the  way  of  religious  ministration,  but  I  mean  in  caring 
for  the  poor,  the  wretched,  the  homeless,  the  sick,  the  weak, 
the  intemperate.  They  are  the  men  who  are  at  the  front  in 
movements  designed  to  alleviate  human  suffering,  working 
by  sunlight  and  starlight ;  and  four-fifths  of  them  half  paid, 
having  poor  fare,  poor  libraries,  poor  homes,  and  a  portion 
of  every  community  prejudiced  against  them.  The  men,  I 
say,  who  are  doing  this  are  the  same  preachers  whom  Inger- 
soll would  cast  out.  Robert  Ingersoll  may  make  pretty 
speeches  about  humanity,  but  here  is  a  class  of  men  whose 
hats  neither  he  nor  I  are  worthy  to  hold." 

I  want  you  to  compare  the  works  of  Christianity  with 
those  of  infidelity,  and  see  whose  are  the  better.  "When  the 
advocates  of  infidelity  are  presenting  their  position,  com- 
pare the  amount  of  good  done  by  the  former  with  what  has 
been  done  by  the  latter,  and  you  "will  see  who  are  the  greater 
benefactors  of  our  race.  Some  of  you  may,  like  many  oth- 
ers, want  to  believe  in  scepticism,  in  order  that  you  may  not 
have  to  come  out  from  the  world  :  but  remember  what  effect 


424  .  SERMONS    OF 

scepticism  vTould  have  upon  the  world  if  it  prevailed,  and 
then  remember  what  effect  Christianity  has  had  upon  it. 
That  is  the  way  to  test  the  matter.  I  would  modify  the 
language  of  the  lecturer.  It  would  not  do  for  me  or  any 
other  minister  of  the  Gospel  to  quote  it  without  some  modi- 
fication of  it.  These  remarks  do  not  only  apply  to  the 
Christian  ministry,  but  also  to  the  laity.  I  want  you  to 
remember  that  we  have  among  the  laity  the  most  active  and 
zealous  workers  in  the  Church.  I  propose  to  change  it  so 
that  it  will  apply  to  the  active  part  of  the  Christian  Church. 
Here,  in  this  body  of  men  and  women,  we  have  a  power  and 
an  influence  which  is  being  exerted  for  the  welfare  of  the 
world.  The  Church  as  a  whole  is  doing  the  work.  Infidels 
are  not  doing  it ;  worldly  philanthropists  are  not  doing  it. 
This  is  a  work  of  the  Church. 

Tlie  Church  transforms  and  changes  man's  entire  being. 
While  we  clothe  the  naked  and  feed  the  poor,  we  would 
also  clothe  tliem  with  the  garments  of  salvation.  We  are 
trying  to  get  them  ready  for  eternity  while  we  are  sustain- 
ing them  on  earth.  This  is  a  work  for  the  Church.  The 
firemen,  to  whom  I  have  alluded,  are  trying  to  extinguish 
the  fiames  and  save  the  natural  body  ;  the  Christian  Church 
is  pulling  the  souls  of  men  out  of  the  flames  of  sin,  and  are 
trying  to  benefit  both  the  souls  and  bodies  of  men. 

How  are  we  to  do  this?  We  are  to  do  it  alone  by  the 
power  of  God.  The  power  is  not  in  us.  It  is  derived  from 
God  and  the  Christian  truth.  We  are  the  pillar  and  ground 
of  the  truth.  What  is  the  truth?  The  truth  is  another 
term  for  the  Gospel.  Christian  truth  and  the  Gospel  are 
synonymous  terms.  Paul  says  :  "  The  Gospel  is  the  power 
of  God  unto  salvation  to  every  one  that  believeth."  Rom. 
1:16. 

What  the  fire  apparatus  is  to  the  firemen,  aiding  them  in 
quenching  the  flames  of  the  natural  fire,  Christian  truth  and 


ELDER    JAMES    QUINTER,  425 

the  means  of  Gospel  grace  are  to  the  Church,  enabling  it  to 
quench  the  flames  of  sin.  And  when  these  means  are  prop- 
erly applied  by  the  Church,  and  in  faith  received  by  the  sin- 
ner, they  will  accomplish  their  designed  effect  without  any 
failure. 

It  appears  from  the  language  of  our  text  that  in  our  work 
of  teaching  the  truth  and  saving  sinners  a  difference  is 
to  be  made.  And  this  difference  is  to  be  made,  not  in  the 
means  to  be  used,  but  in  the  manner  of  using  the  means. 
People  differ  very  much  in  their  tempers  and  dispositions, 
and  we  should  remember  this  in  dealing  with  our  children 
or  friends  and  those  who  are  around  us.  We  must  study 
their  natures.  A  careful  physician,  before  he  prescribes  for 
any  case  of  sickness,  makes  a  careful  diagnosis,  a  careful 
examination  of  the  patient.  Our  medical  schools  and  col- 
leges have  dissecting  rooms  where  the  human  system  in  all 
its  parts  is  laid  open  to  the  student.  In  this  way  he  will 
learn  the  organization  of  the  human  body,  and  he  will  then 
be  better  able,  when  he  comes  in  contact  with  disease,  to 
prescribe. 

And  those  engaged  in  promoting  the  moral  interests  of 
humanity  should  try  and  understand  human  nature,  so  that 
they  can  more  effectually  reform  and  train  it.  Those  hav- 
ing the  young  under  them  know  very  well  that  they  must 
be  dealt  with  differently.  Some  require  very  tender  treat- 
ment, while  others  require  more  rigorous  treatment.  And 
so  it  is  in  administering  spiritual  instruction.  "If  some 
have  compassion  "  they  must  be  dealt  with  very  tenderly. 
Harsh  measures  might  discourage  and  destroy  them.  "  Oth- 
ers save  with  fear."  They  must  be  alarmed  and  have  their 
fears  awakened.  They  are  asleep  in  sin,  and  fear  no  danger. 
Paul  directed  Titus  to  rebuke  some  "sharply."  How  ten- 
derly the  Saviour  spoke  to  the  "  weary  and  heavy  laden  !"' 
But  he  dealt  more  sharply   with  the  hypocritical  and  har- 


426  SERMONS. 

dened  Jews.  Great  discretion  should  be  used  in  giving 
Christian  instruction.  It  is  said  that  "  Prudence  is  the 
queen  of  graces,"  It  certainly  is  an  important  one  for  the 
Christian  worker.  "  He  that  winneth  souls  is  wise."  Prov. 
11 :  30.  In  administering  the  discipline  of  the  Church  to 
members  that  need  it,  great  discretion  should  be  used. 
Small  offences  should  not  be  dealt  with  as  greater  ones,  and 
attending  circumstances  should  be  considered. 

Finally,  as  the  danger  is  imminent,  and  the  work  great, 
the  Church  should  act  with  promptness  and  zeal,  and  all 
who  are  in  the  danger  to  which  sin  exposes  them  should 
avail  themselves  of  the  offered  help  and  make  their  escape 
from  the  threatening  danger.  Time  is  shortening  and  eter- 
nity is  approaching.  And  whatejer  is  done  must  be  done 
soon.  Should  the  work  of  salvation  be  neglected,  an  irre- 
parable and  great  loss  will  be  sustained.  If  it  is  properly 
attended  to,  all  will  be  well,  and  a  glorious  immortality  will 
be  secured. 


»  •~»_*,i>t.' .'A/a-    ■; 


